Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, says the National Development Bank which will take off from the end of July will be a game changer that will transform the country’s economy through industrialization and create more job opportunities.
This is because it will provide long term funding of up to 15 years repayment period to businesses, at relatively cheaper cost.
According to him, the bank will provide cheap credit for industries to grow, expand and offer jobs for Ghanaians.
Speaking at the Corporate Dinner Series for CEOs of Large Corporates organized by the Association of Ghana Industries, Mr. Ofori-Atta said the National Development Bank is part of the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda which hinges on three pillars, and will be different from that of the Agricultural Development Bank and the National Investment Bank.
“There are rigidities that we hope that the development bank will be able to cure, provide loans of up to 15 years, find ways of providing financial support, agreement and guarantees etc, to facilitate banking in a different way without the moral hazards.”
“We’re going to get a much more excited environment [banking] going forward, which we will seek to address some of these things [inadequate access and cost of credit]. And you can see really a gradual progress from the courage to attack the problems of the banking sector, the beginning to think through the development bank as an intervention that is required. We also look at the capital market master plan which we put together to also see how we can really bring live to our stock market which should be a viable option for industry and also support green and brown financing as we see young people getting entrepreneurial going forward’, Mr. Ofori-Atta said.
“So we will continue with the issue of macro stability because it’s something we cannot put aside if we are able to forecast and feel confident about the future and reforms, to continue to strengthen the financial sector and stronger national support for the private sector and entrepreneurship going forward. We’ll also keep an eye on the competitiveness along the region in areas such as energy so that more people will cut out smuggling etc. So that we will be more effective”, he added.
The President of the AGI, Dr. Yaw Adu Gyamfi told Joy Business, businesses have been recovery albeit slowly after covid-19 restrictions eased.
However, he expects some further reliefs from government in the Mid-Year Review Budget […]
