The Finance Minister on Wednesday said the presence of the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), will help mitigate Ghana's investment risks, thereby unlocking additional investments and lower the cost of borrowing. The Agency, according to Ken Ofori-Atta, would support Ghanaian banks by providing access to credit insurance that would offer the much-needed collateral. Mr Ofori-Atta said the insurance sector would, in turn, allow local banks to be able to lend more to local corporates and ultimately help generate more jobs in the economy while strengthening the competitiveness of local banks and boosting private sector growth. With ATl, banks would potentially gain additional and improved revenue streams, while at the same time help the Ghanaian economy to grow. This was announced in a speech read on behalf of Mr Ofori-Atta announced in Accra at the launch of the facility in Ghana. Ghana became a full member of the ATI in October 2019 with shareholding valued at $176 million that was provided with the financial support of KfW, a German state-owned development bank. With this membership, ATl expects to review, and potentially insure, the current pipeline transaction in Ghana valued at $12billion. "ATI is a unique institution because the list of benefits it brings to countries goes well beyond insurance. It is not a typical insurance company, it operates on the level of investments and trade by supplying the insurance that fuels all the major investments and trade transactions in other regions of the world". The Finance Minister said in Africa, this type of insurance had been in short supply largely because African economies got a later start to development than more developed regions. "As a result, African governments tend to obtain lower credit ratings. Africa also has a risk perception challenge because it is perceived as riskier than other regions, these factors have led to a shortage of investment insurance". In 2019, ATI insured a portfolio of transactions across Africa valued at $64 billion. The company is able to support such volumes of trade and investments in part because of an impressive network of international financial institutions such as reinsurance companies and financiers. He said other remunerations that Ghana can benefit from the ATI and other West African member countries is to use ATl’s insurance to attract commercial financing at the levels of more developed economies. "This means financing at better terms and longer duration, which can help pay off more expensive debts and create a more sustainable debt management process," he added. He said the manufacturing and trade sectors would benefit from ATI through credit insurance to expand their sales beyond Ghana enabling a targeted approach for exporters and suppliers. Through ATl’s Regional Liquidity Support Facility (RLSF), backed by KfW, Ghana can help mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. The Facility was created to help tackle climate change by supporting renewable energy projects in ATl’s member countries. The RLSF supports small and mid-scale renewable energy projects with an installed capacity of up to 50 MW and in exceptional cases up to 100 MW by protecting the developers against the risk of delayed payments by public off-takers. John Lentaigne, the Acting Chief Executive Officer, ATI, said ATI had successfully helped neighbouring governments attract lower-cost financing at longer durations by providing a novel insurance scheme that effectively ‘wraps’ the government’s borrowing requests with insurance. This, he added makes the request more appealing to commercial lenders and thus attracts better terms such as longer durations or lower all-in cost of finance. "ATl can support Ghana’s drive to increase trade with other African countries and internationally in a number of ways”. ATI is a multilateral and pan-African institution that provides insurance guarantees, which helps its African member governments attract investments and spur trade with increased access to credit.