Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Bankers, John Awuah says Ghanaian banks are being careful about the way they lend to customers and not that they are not lending at all.

According to him, the recent financial sector cleanup and the raging pandemic have made banks very cautious of accumulating non-performing loans and assets on their bank sheets thus giving the impression that they are not lending.

He said even during the financial uncertainties occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, banks have continued to thrive, keeping the economy afloat.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition, John Awuah said, “In other industries or in other countries banks’ balance sheets have rather shrunk; lending to active productive sectors have significantly declined so for us to be talking about a moderated growth I think it is a reflection of the times that we are in.”

He added that “banks coming from a clean-up environment, much as we are active and we want to build the economy forward we are also very careful because we are coming from a very recent history of extreme non-performing loans and you don’t want to pack assets on your balance sheet, take the benefit for one year and another two, three years we’ll be writing down those assets.

“So to that extent, I think banks are just being careful and not that they’re not lending at all.”