Despite long wait at banks for foreign currency, Jagdeo says there is no shortage of U.S. dollar

Apr 16, 2024 News

Kaieteur News – Despite numerous complaints of long waiting time at local banks to have access to foreign currency, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is saying that there is currently no sustained shortage of the US dollar in Guyana, and his government has seen nothing to indicate such.

Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo

He said the administration receives daily reports from the Central Bank and no shortage has been reported. At his Thursday April 4^th press conference at Freedom House, the VP was asked by Kaieteur News to comment on the US dollar going scarce and the exchange rate rising over GYD$220. He said that, “The moment we believe that there is a sustained shortage… because we get daily reports from the central bank on these matters. If we believe there is a sustained shortage then we can inject large amounts. We have the capacity to do that. That’s what central banks are for…to smooth out markets and we wouldn’t hesitate to use the Central Bank to smooth out the market.”

Jagdeo explained that the administration believes that it is, “the choppiness of demand when you look at the entire market on aggregate supply and aggregate demand it should even itself out at a rate that doesn’t seem massive.” The government’s current interest is keeping the currency around the historic range. “So what happens is that some banks have more foreign currency because they have more customers and suppliers of foreign currency than other banks and they don’t share their currency so if you’re dealing with one bank etc,” he added.

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banks, currency, dollar, foreign, US

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