Guyana faces real risk of financial sanctions – Chris Ram

Eminent Chartered Accountant and Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram, believes that Guyana now faces a very real possibility of attracting sanctions from the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce (CFATF), given that the nation is poised to miss the extended deadline it was afforded to comply with its recommendations.

Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram

Ram’s latest analysis of the money laundering debacle, comes after the National Assembly has officially begun its annual recess, but not before a Special Select Committee voted to defer considering amendments to the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism legislation.
That Committee voted to defer the consideration of the amendments until October even as CFAFT had warned of an August 26 deadline, prior to its next plenary consideration in November.
Ram in his analysis, has since said that “since the executive arm of the state is not in recess, there is no reason why it should not be working feverishly to address not only the problems identified by the CFATF but to identify any other deficiencies in the law and its consistency with the Constitution.”
Ram said that it would not be in Guyana’s best interest to attract the sanctions by the Regulator.
He suggested that not only the Bank of Nova Scotia, but indeed every other bank operating in Guyana with correspondent banking relationships in North America, could be particularly hard hit.
The US Regulator has the power to impose conditions and even prohibit US financial institutions from transacting with correspondents in a designated jurisdiction.
According to Ram, with so many resident Guyanese receiving remittances from the USA, any adverse ruling will have a severe socio-economic impact on the country.
“If Trinidad is an accurate guide, we can expect lengthy delays in completion of foreign currency cross border payments…For businesses conducting time sensitive transactions, such delays result in penalties and loss of business as the sanction on the country flowed down to the businesses.”
He said too that other possibilities are a reduction in the flow of direct foreign investments into the local economy; loss of trading partners; an increase on the cost of borrowing as a result of reduced access to foreign currency; and ultimately, negative reactions by the international community have the potential to impact funding from international agencies.
Ram recalled that “the perception that a country is perceived as a haven for Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing automatically associates it with a high probability of attracting further criminal activity and a negative assessment by the international community…This in turn carries with it financial and reputational risk.”
According to Ram, any sanction could not possibly come at a worse time for Guyana.
“The exchange rate of the Guyana Dollar has recently been coming under some real pressure.”
This fall, according to Ram, has been helped in no small measure by the fall in gold prices, some successes against the narco-trade, sugar performing poorly, rice seeming to bring in lower foreign exchange under the quasi-barter arrangement with Venezuela, and the expertise of the expanding Chinese community in foreign exchange dealings.”
He said that compounding this situation further are “two mega-Yuan projects – the airport and now Amaila – are now under a serious cloud.”
According to Ram “Observers will find it fascinating to note how the Finance Minister will address these matters when he presents his 2013 mid-year, due this month-end."