The Development Bank Ghana (DBG) has disbursed more than GH¢2.5 billion since its inception, with nearly half of the beneficiary businesses located outside the Greater Accra Region.

Chief Executive Officer of DBG, Prof Randolph Nsor-Ambala, said the bank’s interventions are deliberately targeted at sectors considered critical to Ghana’s economic transformation.

He said the bank has so far reached almost 1,000 businesses across the country.

“As we speak currently, you would have heard the buzz around the fact that we have disbursed in excess of ¢2.5 billion,” he said.

Prof Nsor-Ambala explained that more than 60% of the funding has gone to women-led and women-owned businesses.

He added that more than half of the disbursements have gone into agribusiness, agriculture and manufacturing.

“There are components of those disbursements that have gone into energy transition. There are components, about 40% of that disbursement, has gone into micro, small, and medium enterprises,” he said.

According to him, about 50% of the businesses reached by DBG are located outside Greater Accra.

“As we speak, we have a footprint in every region except one,” he said.

Prof Nsor-Ambala said the bank’s focus is guided by studies and data on sectors that can drive sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

“Our focus areas are essentially agriculture, manufacturing, ICT, and what we call high-value services,” he said.

He explained that high-value services include education, health, transportation and tourism.

He said these sectors have significant growth potential but also face market failures and constraints that require deliberate interventions.

“These are the sectors that will contribute massively; we call them growth pole areas, yet they’ve got market failures and binding constraints that require deliberate interventions,” he said.

Prof Nsor-Ambala said agriculture remains a major focus because of its potential to create decent jobs and strengthen food security.

“Top among those reasons are jobs that need to be created. And we are here, we are talking about decent jobs that deliver on upward social mobility and economic empowerment,” he said.

He added that stronger domestic food production could also help ease economic pressures linked to inflation, exchange-rate challenges, and import dependence.

DBG’s agricultural investments have therefore focused on key value chains including maize, rice, cassava, sorghum and poultry.

“These are the areas that have taken a chunk of our investments because our analytics is that these contribute to our ability to achieve the very parameters that I’ve spoken,” he said.

The CEO said DBG’s development partners have expressed satisfaction with the bank’s performance during its first five years.

He said these include the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, European Union, German government, KfW, African Development Bank, France, and Switzerland.

“The Minister for Finance, for example, says, I expect a lot more from you guys, but I’m happy that you’ve held your own,” Prof Nsor-Ambala said.