Development Bank Must Serve All Guyanese, Not Privileged Few — Lewis

The establishment of the Guyana Development Bank presents a critical test of whether the country’s expanding wealth will create opportunities across society or remain concentrated among those with political, economic or institutional connections, veteran trade unionist and Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) General Secretary Lincoln Lewis argues.

In his September 20 weekly Eye On Guyana column, Lewis says the bank must be more than another financial institution. Its success, he argues, should be measured by whether ordinary Guyanese, workers, farmers, entrepreneurs, cooperatives and communities can gain meaningful access to the capital needed to build sustainable livelihoods.

Lewis places the new institution against the backdrop of Guyana’s history of development financing, recalling initiatives established under previous administrations, including the Guyana Agricultural and Development Bank (GAIBANK), which was closed by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government in 1995.