The country’s commercial banks and the Central Bank are allegedly working together to put individuals in a difficult situation, according to the executive secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association.
Samson Asaki Awingobit claims that as a result of recent monetary policy increases and the cedi’s volatility against the dollar, commercial banks are now lending to the government rather than to individual customers.
He claims that as a result, many Ghanaian traders are now struggling to make a profit.
“So you won’t even see commercial banks chasing people to come for loans because of where we are. They want the comfortability, if they give to the government they’re going to get their money back.
“That is where the Central Bank has taken us to. So the Central Bank has connived with the banks to put Ghanaians in that tight corner,” he said.
His remarks concurred with those of Dr. Joseph Obeng, President of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association, who had earlier asserted that recent monetary policy increases by the Central Bank solely benefited the banks at the expense of the general public.
He lamented the Bank of Ghana’s inability to protect the typical Ghanaian from the negative effects of monetary policy rises and inflation.
Dr. Obeng asserts that while monetary policy values have been capped in other jurisdictions to give relief for citizens, the same cannot be said of Ghana.
“We have said in one of our meetings that all the things that you’re doing it seem that it is helping only the banks and you’re not even thinking about the generality of the Ghanaian.
“So while the interest rates have been triggered this far beyond 35%, the gap is too big so find a way to give a cap,” he said.
Should the Bank of Ghana and the Finance Ministry not find an urgent solution to the nation’s economic issues, according to Samson Awingobit, a worse fate will befall the nation.
“It is worse in the sense that you remember this week the Bank of Ghana made us understand that they’ve gone to auction dollar, they were looking for $750 million to be given to the BDCs to bring fuel yet when they went to do the auction they got only $95 million. They couldn’t get the 750 they were looking for. So I can tell you that the centre cannot hold,” he said.
Adam Ibrahim
Adam is passionate about politics and issues that affect governance. As a writer, he channels his energies into writing on pertinent national and political issues for the good of the Ghanaian people.