GHC 100,000 loans given to companies to save jobs – Ofori-Atta
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has explained that banks across the country have issued loans at cheaper rates to the tune of GHC 100,000 to save companies.
The amount was made available to large-scale firms to cushion them against the impact of COVID-19 and prevent job losses.
The minister said the funds were made available after the Bank of Ghana (BoG) issued a raft of concessions after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in March 2020.
The incentive comes at a time most companies are implementing austerity measures as COVID-19 bite hard on businesses.
The liquidity support was from restructuring, moratoria and other interventions by the apex bank for financial institutions to mobilise funds and channel it into the economy.
“So far they have done about a GHC 100,000 loans that they have been able to disburse at this period,” Mr Ofori-Atta said in an interview on Asaase FM on Sunday, July 26.
The Finance Minister indicated their projections from the interventions “will create about GHC 3billion worth of facilities from the banks”.
However, he said recent reports suggest “GHC 7.9 billion. That [is what] the banks have done over that period”.
At the same time, the government has earmarked about GHC 2 billion guarantee fund for over 100 large-scale firms to access more capital for operations.
This was another level of support after the initial GHC 600m for small and medium scale firms being supervised by the National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI).
Mr Ofori-Atta said government concern was to save jobs.
This is coming at a time the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has estimated about 500,000 jobs being lost due to the coronavirus pandemic.
About 100,000 of victims are in the formal sector while 400, 000 are from the informal sector.
Ghana recorded its first COVID-19 case on March 12.
In an emergency meeting on March 18, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) slashed its key policy rate by 150 basis points to 14.50%.
This was the lowest since 2012 which was maintained yet again in May 2020 to spur access to credit and increase liquidity in the system to boost the economy which has seen GDP drop from 8.1 by the end of 2019 % to 0.9% presently.
Meanwhile, the government has also announced in its Mid-Year Budget review a GHC 150m for the media, creative arts and independent universities.
In addition, some GHC 100m has been earmarked for labour to be used in training and skills upgrade.
Mr Ofori-Atta also indicated that some GHC 50 million will go to faith-based organisations with electricity and water absorbed for lifeline users till the end of the year.