Government is set to roll out a GH¢600 million soft loan scheme for Small and Medium Scale businesses in the country, President Akufo-Addo has said.

The loan scheme is expected to have a one-year moratorium and two-year repayment period.

It is however not clear the actual date this soft loan scheme will start.

Addressing the nation on the progress that has been made in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic Sunday, President Akufo-Addo said, “Government, in collaboration with the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), Business & Trade Associations and selected Commercial and Rural Banks, will roll out a soft loan scheme up to a total of six hundred million cedis (GH¢600 million), which will have a one-year moratorium and two-year repayment period for micro, small and medium scale businesses.”

Stimulus package

On March 27, 2020, The President also announced a GH¢1 billion stimulus package for households and businesses.

He said, “The Minister for Finance has been directed by me to prepare, for approval by Parliament, a Coronavirus Alleviation Programme to address the disruption in economic activities, the hardship of our people, and to rescue and revitalize our industries. He will, then, immediately make available a minimum of one billion cedis (GH¢1 billion) to households and businesses, particularly small and medium scale enterprises.

“The commercial banks are, in addition, responding to the Bank of Ghana’s 1.5% decrease in the Policy Pate and 2% in reserve requirement with a three billion-cedi (GH¢3 billion) facility, to support industry especially in the pharmaceutical, hospitality, service and manufacturing sectors” he added.

All these measures according to the government is aimed at mitigating the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Ghanaian economy.

President Akufo-Addo imposed a lockdown on some cities in the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions.

The two-week lockdown was put in place following the surge in the country’s coronavirus cases.

So far, Ghana has recorded 214 confirmed cases of coronavirus as at 5th April 2020.