Potential for Guyana to outshine Caribbean financial markets

NCB Capital Markets says Guyana’s capital market has significant potential which, once developed, can become the best in the Caribbean region.

“Guyana can benefit from templates developed in other Caribbean regions… and guess what; with the tailwinds that this country will experience, it has the potential to be the Caribbean’s poster child for domestic capital markets development.”

Those were the words of Steven Gooden, Chief Executive Officer, NCB Capital Markets Limited during his presentation on Developing Guyana’s Capital Markets to Enable & Accelerate Local Content and Fiscal Inclusion for the Guyanese People at the Guyana Basins Summit.

Capital Markets are defined by Investopedia as financial markets where savings and investments are channelled between suppliers and those in need; with the most common ones being the stock market and the bond market.

Gooden noted the importance of advancing Guyana’s non-oil sectors while highlighting that developing our capital market is not only necessary to effectively manage the enormous wealth the country is projected to attain over a very short time, but also to put more money in the hands of all Guyanese.

“The correlation between capital market development and economic growth has been well established in empirical literature. Capital markets mobilise additional savings making more capital available to companies which may in turn create jobs and facilitate real wage growth. It also helps in diffusing the stresses on the banking system by matching long term investments with long term capital.”

The Guyana Stock Exchange (GSE) is small by global standards at US$2.8 billion in market capitalisation. Is it highly underutilised with no new companies being listed in over a decade.

NCB Capital Markets is Jamaica’s largest wealth and asset management institution, and holds one of the first five seats on the Jamaican Stock Exchange (the most active stock exchange in the Caribbean). They have worked with capital markets across the Caribbean, including the oil based economy of Trinidad and Tobago.

They partnered earlier this year with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) to host a seminar on different outlooks on traditional bank financing and alternatives which can benefit the Guyanese business community.

“We’ll also be taking a similar approach in educating the investing public to help unlock value. My colleague went out on a limb yesterday to engage with the University of Guyana around offering educational training programmes for the University. I do support that and look forward to working with the University of Guyana in this regard.”