The National Development Bank is now set to take from January next year, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has disclosed.
According to him, government has now been able to raise the required seed capital for the financial institution to fully begin operations.
He had earlier said in the 2020 Budget that government had secured $250 million from the World Bank as initial capital to kick-start operations.
Revealing this at the Ghana Employers’ Association meeting in Accra, Mr. Ofori-Atta maintained that government is fully committed to assisting businesses, post easing of covid-19 restrictions.
“The establishment of a national development bank under the Ghana Cares Programme is expected to provide support to businesses. As you might have heard, we have already raised US$500 million dollars for this.”
He further said “as you know, the cost of borrowing has come down and we will try to drag it down to single digit as your president [President Akufo-Addo] says access to capital and the foreign exchange regime has been relatively stable and quite a miracle especially in this year when we had about 2.6 to 2.9%.”
Why the establishment of the National Development Bank?
The government in 2017 hinted it will establish a national development bank in the country.
The move was to provide innovative and long term financing instruments for specific sectors of the economy.
In that regard, the development bank would inject extra capital into the agriculture and industrial sectors.
This will empower and grow many businesses in that sectors into giant ones
ADB and NIB which were established specifically as development banks have ventured into retail banking, taking some attention from their merchant and development banking status.
Latest Stories
-
Meta AI expands to Ghana, Nigeria and other countries in Africa; adds new features
2 mins -
GPL: Expect a new Kotoko against Samartex – Ogum tells fans
58 mins -
Court orders service of notice for DNA test to Mohbad’s wife
60 mins -
Changes to Ghana’s oil and gas royalty and licensing scheme to be implemented in 2024
1 hour -
Ghana’s oil production to rebound in 2024 growing by 5% – Fitch Solutions
1 hour -
Davido gifts fan $50K to clear off her student loan
1 hour -
Netflix: Profits soar after password sharing crackdown
1 hour -
OSP files additional charges against former PPA CEO Adjenim Boateng Adjei
1 hour -
Samuel Anini’s ‘Legacy of Hope’ to be launched in Finland
2 hours -
Fitch Solutions projects 19.0% average inflation for Ghana in 2024
2 hours -
Beijing half marathon: Top 3 stripped of medals after investigation
2 hours -
Nigerian Tunde Onakoya attempts to break chess marathon record
2 hours -
Government set to strip ECG of its billing, collection powers – Egyapa Mercer
2 hours -
We have to focus on Premier League now – Jurgen Klopp
2 hours -
Oil price rises as US says Israel has struck Iran
2 hours