Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School, Joshua Yindenaba Abor, is calling for a more robust National Development Bank (NDB) to drive growth across all sectors of the economy.

He argues that there should be an increase in financing for the development bank and other agencies.

Speaking to Joy Business, he urged banks to strengthen their regulations and tighten their risk assessment regimes to be able to withstand pressures from the market.

Interacting with Joy Business on the sidelines of a dialogue series by DBG and the University of Ghana Business on the changing role of national development banks in Africa, Professor Abor called for an Integration of development banks’ mandate into long-term national plan

“Majority of NDBs have a broad mandate, while some have a narrow mandate. NDBs complement the efforts of the multilateral, and regional Development Banks in filling the financing gaps by providing long-term finance to important sectors to spur growth and development”, he said.

Professor Abor also called for an increase in intra-African trade activities and an increase in climate investments

“We need to focus attention on climate financing and sustainability, promote intra-African trade. An adoption of well-structured corporate governance frameworks and implement efficient risk management system is key to their operations”, he stated.

The Afreximbank Research Fellow furthered that “national development banks complement the efforts of the multilateral and regional development banks in filling the financing gaps by providing long-term finance to important sectors to spur growth and development. Their focus on financing sustainable development and climate action is extremely critical. Adopting the right business model is important in sustaining their operations”.

The ‘DBG-UGBS Development Finance Dialogue Series’,  enabled Professor Abor to examine the contemporary roles of NDBs in Africa, their business models, the challenges they face and how the continent can make them more effective in achieving national development aspirations.

It was an initiative of the business school with support from the NDB to educate graduate students of UGBS on the relevance of development finance and roles of development banks.