Guyana introduces 9-point foreign exchange control plan

Last Updated on Wednesday, 1 October 2025, 23:08 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday said several measures would be put in place by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), commercial banks and the Bank of Guyana (BoG) to stem the outflow of United States (U.S.) dollars that has now almost quadrupled over the past year to about US$1.2 billion.

In a statement issued by the Office of the President, Dr Ali said the new measures would require importers to provide their invoice, bill of lading and GRA compliance to commercial banks before payments are released. “The implementation of these nine standard operating procedures (SOPs) is designed to tighten foreign exchange (forex) controls, improve transparency, and prevent abuse of the system, especially in the context of rising demand and capital flight,” according to the statement.

As another measure to curb excessive demand for U.S. dollars, the President also mandated that commercial banks monitor credit card usage to ensure they are being used for personal rather than business transactions.

He highlighted a sharp escalation in credit card usage as part of his broader concerns about foreign exchange outflows.

In 2023, total credit card clearance stood at approximately US$91.3 million. That figure surged to US$347.5 million in 2024, marking a nearly four-fold increase. He said that in 2025, the amount has already reached close to US$252 million, signalling continued high-volume activity.

“We’ve also noticed massive growth in credit card transactions,” the President said. “We’re now examining that growth, profiling that growth to see whether personal credit cards are used to clear business transactions and in what volume, because this is important for us to understand,” he added.

Providing statistics showing the central bank’s intervention in the foreign exchange market, the President said in 2024, US$332 million was provided to meet foreign exchange demand. That, he said, has risen to US$1.2 billion in 2025, with an additional US$160 million still pending.

The decisions were made after a meeting with several stakeholders of the financial sector, including the BoG Governor, Dr Gobin Ganga, GRA Commissioner-General, Godfrey Statia, and representatives of commercial banks operating in Guyana. Also attending the meeting was Minister of Public Service and Government Efficiency, Zulfikar Ally.

President Ali noted that an interagency task force, including technical support, was convened to comprehensively review the increase in demand for foreign exchange. He noted too that his Government has made several interventions over the last three years in the foreign currency sector.

During the meeting, he outlined nine key measures to guide commercial banks in maintaining the stability of Guyana’s financial sector.

The measures are:

1. Any request for foreign exchange (forex) by any customer to commercial banks for the importation of goods to Guyana would require the customer to provide the commercial bank with a copy of the commercial invoice on the basis of which the commercial bank may release the foreign exchange to the said customer.
2. Any customer that submits a request for foreign exchange upon the arrival of the goods in Guyana will have to submit a copy of the invoice and bill of lading to the GRA. The documents will also have to be submitted to the commercial bank for verification.
3. If a customer fails to submit the certified copy of the invoice and bill of lading, as well as a GRA compliance to the commercial bank, the bank shall not release the request for the foreign exchange.
4. The commercial banks will submit copies of the bill of lading and the commercial invoice to the Bank of Guyana for further verification. This will be supported by the setting up of a system at the BoG (Bank of Guyana) where all records from the commercial banks, GRA and other relevant stakeholders will be reconciled.
5. To monitor the use of credit cards more closely, each commercial bank will have to ensure that personal credit cards are used strictly for personal transactions and not for the settling of business obligations.
6. In cases where there are related party transactions and inflated invoicing for capital flights (the rapid outflow of capital and liquid assets from a country), the entities found responsible will be penalised.
7. In cases where foreign exchange in the form of currency is being taken out of Guyana, the source of the currency will have to be declared.
8. Entities registered in Guyana under the local content laws that are providing services for the oil and gas sector must maintain a local bank account in which the foreign currency earnings shall be remitted into the said bank account. The local content legislation will be amended to reflect this.
9. A single window post-clearing system will be established at the central bank, through which reconciliation and prior transactions between GRA, commercial banks and the central bank will be completed before new requests are facilitated.

During the meeting, the representatives of the commercial banks expressed their support for these measures, which they acknowledged will ease some of the difficulties they currently face, the government said.