The banking sector remains solvent and strong to support economic growth despite the recent challenges faced by the country, Second Deputy Governor, Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi, has said.
According to her, the banking sector was liquid and well positioned to lend to businesses and individuals after the implementation of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
Mrs Awadzi stated this during the launch of the “Absa Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) loan at 10 per cent” on Wednesday, and mentioned the Bank of Ghana would continue to build a resilient banking sector to support government’s fiscal policies.
“Our banking sector remains solvent and liquid even after the pandemic, in the face of recent macroeconomic challenges, and in particular the government’s debt restructuring efforts,” she stated.
The Second Deputy Governor explained that the banking sector’s clean-up and recapitalisation exercise before the onset of the pandemic provided the industry with the necessary capital and liquidity buffers to withstand the pandemic and the recent macroeconomic challenges.
“We expect banks over the next few years to take steps to rebuild strong buffers so that they remain resilient for the long-term”, she advised.
Mrs Awadzi stressed that BoG remained committed to achieving its statutory objectives of ensuring price stability, promoting economic growth and the effective and efficient operation of the banking and credit systems in the country, and promoting financial stability.
The Second Deputy Governor entreated banks to deploy the funding available to them into more lending to the private sector, especially to SMEs, within the framework of robust credit underwriting and risk management.
She said banks should “Be more inclusive in their product and service offerings to ensure that all economic actors in Ghana are able to access much-needed finance to grow their businesses and contribute to the growth of our economy.”
The Second Deputy Governor commended Absa Bank for introducing the Absa Bank SME at 10 per cent product to support and build the capacity of 5000 Ghanaian SMEs to help them boecom investor-ready by the year 2025.
STORIES: BY KINGSLEY ASARE
