GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Dec 09 2016 – A deluge of Barbadian dollars on the Guyana market has resulted in that country’s central bank today temporarily suspending trade in this island’s currency.
Guyana’s monetary authorities also moved against the Trinidad and Tobago dollar, and though trading is temporarily suspended, the central bank said persons conducting “legitimate” business could still deal in the dollars of the two Caribbean Community member states.
Since the beginning of this week a local Guyana newspaper, Kaieteur News, has been reporting that the business community was facing a shortage of US currency.
Government responded by indicating that there was no such shortage as there were adequate reserves.
However, they were worried that local traders were accepting large amounts of Barbados and Trinidad currency and exchanging them for US dollars.
Information from the central bank shows that while there was $8 million Barbados in circulation in Guyana in 2014, the figure has since leaped to $13 million.
For the same period, the amount of Trinidad currency in circulation moved from TT$9.1 million to TT$38 million.
There is unrestricted access to foreign currency in Guyana and reports are that businesspeople from Barbados and Trinidad have been using this gateway to access US dollars.
