Some commercial banks have indicated that they will not increase their lending rates despite the sharp increase in the Bank of Ghana’s policy rate from 12.5 percent to 13.5 percent. The policy rate is the rate commercial banks borrow from the central bank. There are fears the increase would invariably see bank lending rates go up. But some of the commercial have told JOYBUSINESS, borrowers should not be worried as lending rates would remain unchanged despite the increase. George Baah Danquah is head of treasury at Agricultural Development Bank, ADB. “The Policy Rate is one of the variables that we consider in setting our base rate. Given that this has gone up, we will have to observe other variables before we take the decision at the appropriate time to review but as at now the base rate remains the same”. Though lending rates have declined over the period, they remain quite high, around 32 percent. Managing Director of Barclays Bank, Benjamin Dabrah has also been speaking to JOYBUSINESS. “If you consider what we’ve always said you’ll notice that we’ve been extremely consistent. "We’ve always said that whiles the policy rate is one of the factors, it is not the only determinant and so our lending or base rates do not move directly in line with the Policy Rate. From the pure Barclays perspective, some of the factors are the cost of funds, our actual cost of business, cost of overheads and non-performing loans. All these factors also affect the rate. It is possible that some of these are moving in a favorable direction as the policy rate has moved upwards so on the balance we are confident that our current base rate reflects the environment".