As the government prepares to roll out the zero-interest Guyana Development Bank on October 5, the Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), is calling for transparent governance of the institution.

In a statement, the APNU said it is supportive of the establishment of a development bank that genuinely expands economic opportunity for ordinary Guyanese, but is not supportive of the planned public vetting of applicants.

The opposition party said it has concerns with the governance safeguards, independence and accountability, as well as the clearly defined rules necessary to protect both public money and the citizens that the bank will serve.

“The President has proposed that persons selected for loans from the Guyana Development Bank should have their names published before financing is granted, with members of the public then being able to raise objections. Those objections can cause a loan to be denied. That proposal must be reconciled with the very legislation signed into law by the President, “the party said.

APNU noted the Development Bank’s confidentiality provisions state that information obtained by the bank is to be treated as confidential and used solely for the purposes of carrying out its functions, subject to disclosure where required by law.

The party said anything outside of that means that the government will be venturing outside of its own Development Bank Act.

The party noted that while transparency in the management of public funds is essential, it does not require unnecessarily exposing the personal financial affairs of individual citizens.

“A properly designed Development Bank should be able to demonstrate publicly where its money is going, the sectors being financed, the geographical distribution of loans, repayment performance, default rates, approval criteria, related-party transactions and the developmental outcomes being achieved without automatically compromising confidential information supplied by individual applicants,” the party stated.

The party said the government must make it clear how it intends to treat with borrowers, noting that applicants may provide the bank with financial, family, employment and other personal information in order to establish eligibility for financing and they must be assured that their information will be treated with the highest level of confidentiality.

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