Exporters have complained about the cost of borrowing as one of the major challenges affecting their business. It was one of the several issues they raised this morning at a national forum organised to discuss issues relating to the Export Development and Investment Fund, EDIF. Some of them spoke to Joy Business stressed the need fro financial institutions to look at the time within which credit is delivered to businesses. Others said the unwillingness of insurance companies to insure the products was a major problem. The forum was on the theme, EDIF, a reliable partner for the promotion and development of Ghana’s export trade. Trade Minister Hannah Tetteh advised banks to do proper due diligence before lending to avoid unnecessary risks. She said although EDIF lent money to businesses through the banks, whenever customers default, EDIF bears the brunt fully meanwhile the banks are in a better stead to assess the viability of the businesses of borrowers than EDIF does. She said there ought to be a system that put some reasonability on the bank such if a business fails to pay back a loan, the bank should be held responsible. That way, the banks may be careful and this will reduce rate of bad loans and improve recovery rate of the funds lent by EDIF. Source: Joy Business/Ghana