High non-performing loans undermine low policy rate – BoG Governor

Governor of the Bank of Ghana (B0G) Dr Ernest Addison has admitted that the effort by the Monetary Policy Committee to bring down the policy rate, is being undermined by the high rate of non-performing loans in the banking industry.

According to him, records by the Central bank indicates that the country’s non-performing loans stood at 18 .7 per cent as at the end of March 2019, a development he describes as unacceptable for the industry.

“I must say that in spite of the improvements through the enforcement of loan write-offs, NPLs are still high at 18.7 per cent at the end of March 2019. This level by all measures is unacceptable and more works need to be done in this area” he said.

The Governor was speaking at the 4th Ghana CEO Summit in Accra.

He used the opportunity to advise the captains of industries to comply with terms on bank loans and credits since it is crucial to the growth of the banking sector.

“The high NPLs situation has implications for the monetary policy conduct as it impedes that translation mechanism for the policy rate on lending. As you are aware we are trying to lower the policy rate but it is not reflecting on the banks primarily due to the high non-performing loans”.

Dr Addison further recommended that the government should set up a specialised court to deal with cases of financial services providers in order to expedite recouping of debt from the public.

The Governor also disclosed that the receivers of all the consolidated banks during the banking sector reform have been facing challenges with the assets recovery process of the affected banks.

This he blames on fraudulent documentation and non-compliance of some rules under the Banking Acts.

This year’s CEOs summit is under the theme: the futuristic Economy: Technology driven future of business and governance for economic transformation.

In his address, host of the event and Chief Executive of the Chief Executives Network Ghana Limited, Ernest De-Graft Egyir explains that the theme for the summit was chosen due to the technological evasion into the Ghanaian Business Industry.

“The theme for this year, ladies and gentlemen is simply translated as “the current pace of change is likely to be slower than the pace of change in the future” he added.