Foreign currency trade in first seven months down compared with same period last year
Foreign currency trade for the first seven months of this year is US$13M (sales) and US$9M (purchases) down compared with the same period last year. At the end of July 2000, US$219M in foreign currencies were sold at the bank and non-bank cambios whilst US$226M in currencies were purchased. These figures do not capture the illegal cambio market which still flourishes in Guyana. For 1999, a total of US$423M worth of foreign currencies were purchased by licensed dealers whilst US$414M were sold. Of the purchases at the end of 1999, bank cambios accounted for US$375.7M and non-bank cambios US$47.8M compared with sales of US$366.6M and US$47.9M respectively. At the end of July this year, bank cambios reported a total sale of US$194.98M as against US$24.2M by the non-bank cambios. Purchases were US$201M and US$24.2M respectively. It is strongly believed that the drop in trade this year is attributable to the state of the economy rather than the two cambios which were not licensed to operate. The government from the start of this year increased cambio licence fees from $250 000 per annum to $500 000, reflecting a 100 per cent hike. As such, a significant amount of foreign currency traded still goes undetected because the informal sector is not being drafted into the formal sector due to the stringent licensing requirements and the inability of the Central Bank to police the market. Illegal traders still pervade business centres around the country and many businessmen buy currency for their own businesses in the informal market system. In the meanwhile, the US dollar is being bought at G$179.40 and sold at G$182.63, compared with G$145.55 and G$149.68 in July 1998 and G$175.41 and G$178.26 in July 1999 respectively. The Canadian dollar is being bought at G$117.09 and sold at $120.75 currently. The sterling pound is bought at G$263 and sold at G$275.  Follow the goings-on in Guyana
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