Standard Chartered Bank has expressed hope and confidence in the Ghanaian economy and that despite the creeping global financial downturn the economy is still resilient. Buttressing this point, the bank stated that corporate activities remained bullish in spite of the rising inflation and interest rates and that the slowness of the growth of the economy was only temporal. Speakers at a press soiree organised by the bank in Accra over the weekend said statistics indicated that inflation was reducing and noted that the second quarter of this year would record a further decrease. The bank’s Area Head of Origination and Client Coverage in Wholesale Banking in West and Central Africa, Mr. Kweku Bedu-Addo, said the intensified financial crisis had resulted in the decline of remittances, decline in Foreign Direct Investments and donor funds flow but the domestic economy demonstrated rapid output growth of 7.3 per cent in 2008. Touching on the coverage model of the bank, Mr. Badu-Addo said the bank was providing a wide range of financial services in the fields of loans and advances, trade financing, treasury and fixed income and corporate finance and advisory. He said the bank had developed a sustainable lending programme that helps communities to operate in the areas of forestry, oil palm, power generation, trade and finance, cocoa processing, oil and gas exploration and others. The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana and Area General Manager of West Africa of the Standard Chartered Bank, Mr. Hemen Shah, in his contributory remarks said the bank was the lead financier of the jubilee fields following the discovery of oil in the country and added that the bank had supported Tullow Energy to raise the needed funds for the oil exploration. On the bank's support for the agricultural sector, Mr. Shah said the bank was involved in direct lending to farming communities within which they operated, and added that the bank expended about $50 million on fertiliser and other farming chemicals to support farmers with an additional $25 million expected in June, this year for the minor crop season. Other officials of the bank said as part of the bank's commitment towards protecting the environment, the bank in collaboration with the Forestry Commission planted trees from Accra to the northern part of the country and supported the recycling of paper waste into tissues. The bank, according to the officials, embarked on a clean-up campaign at some beaches in Accra as part of the recent observation of World Malaria Day. Source: Daily Graphic