By LCN Business Desk
Outstanding demand for foreign currency at Guyana's commercial banks has climbed to just over US$200 million, President Irfaan Ali said after meeting the banks, and some of it is a carry-forward from earlier months that the banks could not satisfy as economic activity expanded, the Guyana Chronicle reported on Monday, 21 September. "They estimate now, for example, their outstanding demand to date, as we speak now, is in the vicinity just over US$200 million. That is what is in the system that is required now," the President said.
The review will examine whether there is any "misdirection or financing of other operations" involving foreign currency, and how far rising demand reflects legitimate private-sector expansion, according to the Chronicle. The government will meet the banks again after the President returns from the United Nations General Assembly.
Who is analysing the demand?
Asgar Ally, who is helping the President's office examine the structure of the demand, according to the Chronicle. Ally was Guyana's Minister of Finance from 1992 to 1995 and earlier a deputy governor of the Bank of Jamaica, according to Wikipedia and Stabroek News, and he chairs the Wales Development Authority, according to the Guyana Standard.
How large is the demand?
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Unmet requests at the banks, September 2026 | Just over US$200 million | President Ali, via Guyana Chronicle |
| Foreign currency bought by banks, January to June 2026 | US$2.279 billion, up 26.8% on 2025 | President Ali, via Kaieteur News |
| Bank of Guyana injections, same period | US$836 million, from US$642 million | President Ali, via Kaieteur News |
| Projected demand, 10 September to 31 December 2026 | US$1.575 billion | President Ali, via Guyana Times |
| Credit card settlements, 2026 to mid-September | US$356 million | President Ali, via Guyana Times |
| Foreign currency injected in 2025 | US$1.2 billion, from US$332 million in 2024 | Office of the President, September 2025 |
Sources: Guyana Chronicle, Kaieteur News, Guyana Times, Office of the President. The President put monthly projected demand at US$385 million in October, US$400 million in November and US$436 million in December.
Was the private sector right?
Yes, on the banks' own numbers. The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in March 2023 that its members had complained of a shortage of US dollars since 2019, Kaieteur News reported, and the Bank of Guyana answered that the Chamber appeared mistaken in expecting currency on demand. Importers reported goods spoiling on the wharf in March 2025 and waits of two weeks or more in July 2025. A carry-forward of unmet requests at the commercial banks is the measured form of the same complaint. La Caribeña News sets out the record of what businesses reported over the past two years in For Two Years Businesses Said They Could Not Get US Dollars.
What did last year's nine measures require?
On 30 September 2025 the President announced nine measures to tighten access to foreign exchange, after the government had injected US$1.2 billion into the market that year, according to the Office of the President and Stabroek News, which reported observers describing them as the most serious tightening since the market was freed in the 1990s. They require:
- a commercial invoice with every request for foreign exchange to import goods;
- the invoice and bill of lading to be submitted to the Guyana Revenue Authority and the bank once goods arrive, with further requests refused if they are not;
- banks to pass invoices and bills of lading to the Bank of Guyana for reconciliation through a single-window clearing system;
- personal credit cards to be used only for personal transactions, not business obligations;
- penalties for inflated invoicing and related-party transfers used for capital flight;
- persons leaving Guyana with foreign currency to declare its source;
- every entity registered under the Local Content Act to keep a local bank account into which its foreign-currency earnings are remitted, with the Act to be amended to reflect this.
On the public record this newspaper can find, no amendment to the Local Content Act carrying that bank-account requirement has been tabled in the National Assembly. Guyanese firms earned an estimated US$466.2 million under the Act's reserved categories in the first half of 2026, according to the Ministry of Finance's mid-year report, as reported by the Guyana and North America Trade Association. La Caribeña News has reported that the Local Content Secretariat approved plans for more than forty companies without publishing which.
What does the IMF say about the market?
Strong foreign-exchange demand, "especially from private investment with heavy import content, kept the FX market tight," the International Monetary Fund's Article IV mission said on 31 July, according to its concluding statement. La Caribeña News reported the same mission's findings on the oil cost audits in What the IMF Actually Said About Guyana's Exxon Cost-Oil Audits, and examines what the Fund recommended on the currency, and how it compares with the measures, in The IMF Says Investment Imports Keep Guyana's Currency Market Tight.
Who feels the queue?
Importers first. La Caribeña News reported on 19 September that a small importer financed by the new Guyana Development Bank would still have to buy US dollars to pay an overseas supplier, in The Development Bank Opens on 5 October, and that CARICOM's planned local-currency payment system is advancing without a named Guyanese participant, in Four Caribbean Governors Met Africa's Payment System and Guyana's Fast Pay and CAPSS.
What the title card shows
- Just over US$200 million: unmet foreign-currency demand at the banks, September 2026. Source: Guyana Chronicle.
- US$2.279 billion: bought by banks in the first half of 2026, up 26.8%. Source: Kaieteur News.
- US$1.575 billion: projected demand to year end. Source: Guyana Times.
- Nine measures: announced 30 September 2025. Source: Office of the President.
- Quotation: "That is what is in the system that is required now." President Irfaan Ali. Source: Guyana Chronicle.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much foreign currency demand is unmet in Guyana?
Just over US$200 million, according to the commercial banks, as reported by President Irfaan Ali on 21 September 2026. Part is carried forward from earlier months.
Who is Asgar Ally?
A former Minister of Finance (1992 to 1995) and former deputy governor of the Bank of Jamaica, who chairs the Wales Development Authority. He is helping the President's office analyse foreign-exchange demand.
What are the nine foreign exchange measures?
Announced on 30 September 2025, they tie foreign exchange for imports to invoices and bills of lading verified by the GRA and the Bank of Guyana, restrict personal credit cards to personal use, penalise over-invoicing and capital flight, require currency-source declarations at exit, and require local-content firms to keep local accounts for foreign earnings.
What happens next?
The government will meet the commercial banks again after the President returns from the United Nations General Assembly.
The banks' figure is a queue, not a total: US$200 million requested and not yet filled, in a year when they have already bought more than US$2.2 billion.