GEORGETOWN, Guyana – October 12, 2026 – In a bold push to expand agricultural production and make credit more accessible to producers across the country, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali announced Monday that his administration has almost completed negotiations with two of the nation’s leading commercial banks to roll out reduced-interest loans for farmers.
Speaking at the opening session of the national Farmers’ Conference held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, President Ali outlined that the government’s broader strategy aims to drive down borrowing costs across all of Guyana’s commercial banking sector by extending the same incentive framework already used to support low-income housing development to agricultural lending.
The policy is designed to remove financial barriers for producers looking to scale up operations into medium and large-scale agricultural production, ensuring that growth-focused loans remain available at rates that farmers can afford, Ali explained.
Per the president’s update, Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited has already made a formal commitment to earmark a dedicated pool of capital for preferential-rate agricultural loans, with the exact interest rate set to be publicly revealed before the conclusion of the ongoing Farmers’ Conference. Negotiations are also advanced with Demerara Bank Limited, where the administration is working to push interest rates for poultry sector loans below the 5% mark, with further reductions on the table through the government’s new incentive scheme.
“We are now negotiating to even bring that lower through this incentive that we are going to offer,” Ali told conference attendees.
The president also highlighted growing momentum in Guyana’s agricultural sector driven by the government’s supportive policy agenda, pointing to new data from the recently launched Guyana Development Bank (GDB). Almost 30% of all applications for GDB’s collateral-free, zero-interest loans – which have a maximum value of GY$3 million – have come from agricultural stakeholders, a trend Ali framed as clear evidence of rising enthusiasm and renewed investment interest in the sector.
“If there is one indication as to how the policy direction is leading to a new wave of excitement, a new wave in agriculture, it is this fact that almost 30% of all the applications so far in the development bank is in the agricultural sector,” he said.
As of Monday afternoon, the Guyana government had not yet released a full figure for the total number of loan applications received by the GDB to date.