Background

The Financial Literacy Programme was launched on February 06, 2009 and is an initiative of the Bank of Guyana. The Bank recognizes that there is an overwhelming need for educating the broad populace in financial matters that daily impact their lives. The principal aim is to provide students, parents, youth organizations, homeowners, entrepreneurs, consumers and others with basic and essential financial knowledge to make informed financial decisions that could enhance their lives with greater economic security and subsequently translate into greater national wealth with higher economic growth and development.

This website has been designed and made available in an effort to educate the reader on finances, finance terminologies and the use of financial information to increase personal wealth and prepare for emergencies. The Research Department has the sole responsibility of ensuring that this website is updated with appropriate content for the general public so as to increase their financial knowledge.

Benefits of the Financial Literacy Programme

More specifically we believe that the financial literacy programme would help individuals:

  • Improve their financial well-being;
  • Provide them with fundamental numeracy skills – help them to calculate their interest earned on deposits, interest to be paid on loans, service charges, etc.;
  • Provide the guidance to making wise saving and borrowing decisions;
  • Provide the guidance for responsible use of money;
  • Help them to understand their rights as consumers;
  • Help them to be aware of and avoid schemes aimed at defrauding them of their savings;
  • Help them to make wise investment decisions;
  • Identify counterfeit notes and fraudulent transactions;
  • Help them understand the value and safety of using personal cheques and manager’s cheques to move large sums of money in settling transactions;
  • Understand how they contribute to the economic well-being of the economy;
  • Help them to understand the role of the commercial banks in the economic development of the country;
  • Help them to understand the supervisory and regulatory roles of the Bank of Guyana; among other benefits

 

There is a consensus that Financial Literacy, just like reading and writing, positively impacts the livelihood of every individual.  It also affects the economic and social well-being of every community and, ultimately, the financial system and the overall strength of the nation’s economy.
Important: The information on this website does not constitute legal, financial or other professional advice but provides information for general reference purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure that the information given herein is of sound quality but no legal responsibility is accepted for any errors, omissions or misleading statements in the information, caused by negligence or otherwise.