Traders Bank In The Offing – Trade Ministry
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has partnered with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and other stakeholders, including the Bank of Ghana (BoG), to establish a specialised bank for traders in the country.
The sector minister, Alan Kyeremanten, noted that upon its establishment, the bank would serve as an avenue to curtail the struggle of smallholder traders in particular in securing loans to grow their businesses.
He added that the bank would also offer low-interest rates for traders to make them competitive while ensuring that the economy becomes more efficient.
Mr Kyerematen made this disclosure when he presented a cheque of more than GH₵2 million on Wednesday, October 27, to some 98 traders who were affected by the July 5 Makola market fire as an emergency liquidity support to alleviate their plight.
The minister pointed out that the contributions of traders to the country’s economic growth could not be underestimated and indicated that the establishment of a bank to support the activities of traders would be of immense help to them.
“We know the stress you go through to acquire loans from the banks and sometimes the frustrations to pay back your loans because of the high-interest rates.
“For this reason, the government, in collaboration with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) will soon open the Ghana Traders Bank that will directly deal with issues of traders to help ease your financial burdens,” he stated.
Adding to this, the President of GUTA, Dr Joseph Obeng, said, “very soon we are going to launch the traders’ bank that is even long overdue as we all know because we command the bulk of the savings that we do in the country. Yet, we do not get the benefit thereof. The mainstream banks are taking it all from us. So, now, arrangements are far ahead for us to also establish the Ghana Traders Bank.”
He explained that with the establishment of the bank, the informal arrangement of a rotational savings and credit association among traders would be structured to provide a better savings and loans scheme for them.
“We are going to formalize the ‘susu’ kind of loans and put it in a very innovative way so that we can give loans to ourselves at an affordable rate,” Dr Obeng explained.
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