In the previous column featured last week, it was argued that the analysis of Guyana’s financial sector coverage, particularly the benchmark used to arrive at such conclusion in the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS) report, was deeply flawed. It was shown that Guyana had less bank branches per capita in comparison to two of its regional neighbours – Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. This columnist thus argued that it was imprudent to benchmark Guyana to these two countries in the light of the very unique and substantive differences of the economic dynamics and status of these countries altogether.
Now, for simplicity, GDP (Gross Domestic Product), is the market value of all final goods and services produced in a country or economy in a given time period. GDP therefore measures (domestic) the value of production, which also equals total expenditure on final goods and total income within a country in a given time period, usually in a year or quarter of a year. The equality of income and output shows the link between productivity and living standards. With respect to GDP per capita, levels of GDP per capita are obtained by dividing GDP at current market prices by the population of a country. This indicator is a basic economic indicator that measures the level of total economic output relative to the population of a country. It also reflects changes in total well-being of the population. In other words, this indicator shows the extent to which the total production of a country can be shared by its population. As such, the growth in real GDP per capita indicates the pace of income growth per head of population. As a single composite indicator, it is a powerful summary indicator of economic development. However, while it does not directly measure sustainable development, it is a very important measure for the economic development aspects of sustainable development.
There are six commercial banks in Guyana, with a spread of 40 branches across the country. Georgetown, or the capital city, alone has seven branches in addition to the head offices – giving rise to 13. On the East Coast corridor, there are three branches; the East Bank corridor has four; between Vreed-en-Hoop and Parika there are five; Bartica has three; Anna Regina has three; the county of Berbice alone has 10; Linden has two; Lethem has two; and Port Kaituma one. Looking at the population density from the table below, Regions Two, Three, Four, Six, Seven, Nine and Ten, where there are sufficient bank branches – the combined population is about 661,030 which represents 88 per cent of total population, with Georgetown and Region Three (where the majority of the population is concentrated) accounting for 420,845 persons, or 56 per cent of the total population. Given this, branch per capita is 15 to the combined population, where the highest population concentration is; that is, Regions Three and Dour, and this means the population is well served in Guyana’s context.
It would appear that the GSDS report on this aspect of financial sector coverage was implying that Guyana perhaps needs more bank branches in hinterland regions. While this notion might contain some amount of sensibility, such would also have to consider the viability of extending more bank branches in these areas across the country against the backdrop of the geographic, logistics, population spread, and sufficient sustainable economic activities to accommodate the extension of more bank branches nationwide. 
Taking the aforesaid factors into consideration, places like Mahdia and other hinterland regions in Guyana – for persons who are familiar with these regions – often depend on one economic activity, for example gold mining. Secondly, the people are living far apart, further into the dense forest, which is very costly to travel at times; and, more importantly, these areas are often not regularised. There are inherent collateral issues and many other limitations which are too numerous to discuss in today’s article. Hence, in the final conclusion, it is not feasible in Guyana for banks to establish more branches, especially in hinterland regions, unless these regions are more fully developed in many respects.
Table showing average population across the 10 administrative regions
