“It is our duty to ensure resources in the financial system are used for legitimate purposes” – VP

…as Guyana monitors payment methods by Chinese and Trinidadian companies here

Amidst persisting shortages in the local market, the Guyana Government is closely monitoring the operations of Chinese establishments and Trinidadian companies here to ascertain whether they are involved in gold smuggling or contributing to the shortage of forex in the country.
This is according to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo during a press conference on Thursday.
He explained that there have been reports of businesses, such as Chinese-owned supermarkets and Trinidadian operators here, paying for goods through the purchase of gold or foreign currency from the local market since they cannot do so via the formal banking system.
“What we’ve been examining is an attempt to ensure that all of our resources are going to legitimate purposes… the money in circulation – the foreign currency – is being utilised for legitimate purposes, and to ensure foreigners that our foreign currency is being used to support Guyanese demand for goods and services and investment purposes,” the VP noted.
According to Jagdeo, the Government has looked at the records of which companies are requesting foreign currency from the local banks, and many of these Chinese and Trinidadian businesses are not listed.
“So, the banks know who they’re selling money to, and in that request for purchase of resources from the banks, we do not see a number of companies that are doing business here – Trinidadian [and] Chinese, especially – that they’re not on that list. So clearly, they are either getting the goods supplied by someone else and selling the goods for them – another big person who’s importing the goods and may be on the formal system – or, as we’ve heard, people are buying up gold and exporting it,” he explained.
Already, the Guyana Government is clamping down on these networks, having conducted several sting operations in the past to dismantle such rings.
Only back in March, Chinese national Ying Xin Su, a 30-year-old travel agent who had previously been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, was slapped with seven money laundering charges by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) – the white-collar arm of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
The charges indict Ying of being in contravention of Section 3 (1) (c) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act, Chapter 10:11. She was placed on bail in the sum of $1.5M on each charge.
She was also arraigned on another count of money laundering – for which she has been placed on $200,000 bail.
SOCU said that on July 9, 2024, members of the Police Force searched Ying’s room at the Princess Ramada International Hotel at Providence, East Bank Demerara, for gold she was suspected of smuggling and found GY$52 million, US$5,480.00, Bar$97.00 and SR$662.00. They also found an illegal firearm and ammunition.
A summary of all the charges has revealed that Su acquired or possessed several properties and motor vehicles knowing, or having reasonable grounds to believe, that the said properties and motor vehicles were derived, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from proceeds of crime, which amounted to money laundering.
According to SOCU Head, Deputy Commissioner Fazil Karimbaksh, the money laundering investigations had been ongoing for several months prior to the institution of the charges.
Nevertheless, VP Jagdeo noted during Thursday’s press conference that local authorities are also looking at how these foreign establishments operating in Guyana utilise foreign currency in the local market.
“So, all of this is being examined by both the GRA (Guyana Revenue Authority) and the Securities Services. So, we have to examine all of this – not because we’re targeting anyone but because we have to [and] our duty is to ensure that the resources in our financial system in Guyana are being used for legitimate purposes and to support Guyanese growth and Guyanese businesses mainly,” he stressed.
In recent years, Guyanese companies have been complaining bitterly about the lack of foreign currency in the local market and the impact this is having on their ability to conduct business.
Previously, the Government has had to intervene to inject foreign currency into the Guyanese market. On March 27, the Bank of Guyana injected US$35 million into the market, distributing the money across commercial banks. On April 7, a further US$100 million was injected.
According to the vice president, while Government has “enormous capacity” to intervene, this has to be carefully calibrated.
“We have a problem with the currency, not the instrument, so the dollars are a bit scarce because we don’t sell too many dollars. We sell to the banks through direct transfers… So that is an issue not because of the lack of availability of money but because it’s the currency that’s sometimes scarce,” he noted.
The private sector in the past has accused some banks of hoarding the foreign currency.
Another issue that Guyana has had to grapple with is Trinidadian businesses purchasing US dollars from Guyanese cambios and businesses.
“Some of the cambios and the banks, to a lesser extent the banks, are selling the foreign currency to them, [the Trinidadians] who come here and… there are some local companies buying from the banks and the cambios at about $216 and selling at $220 to the Trinidadians,” Jagdeo had stated at a press conference back in May.
In Trinidad, he highlighted that businesses are often forced to wait over six months to access foreign currency, resulting in them tapping into the Guyana market.
This, coupled with a surge in domestic demand for foreign currency, is creating issues in the local market, Jagdeo had said.
He explained that domestic demand for foreign currency surged from 2020, when imports to Guyana stood at $2.2 billion, compared to $9 billion in 2025.