Monthly Archives - March 2021

EU set to remove Ghana from money laundering and terrorist financing list

The European Union (EU) will soon remove Ghana from the list of money laundering and terrorist financing countries. The Head of the EU delegation to Ghana, Diana Acconcia, disclosed this on PM Express Business Edition on Joy TV. According to Mrs Acconcia, the Union was taking this action because Ghana had made a lot of progress in taking corrective measures to...

Banking sector clean up was not targeted at any individual – Mr Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister-Designate, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has refuted claims that the banking sector cleanup undertaken by the government targeted specific individuals. According to him, the research on the banks and the rot in the sector had already been identified by the previous management of the Bank of Ghana. Therefore, after taking over, President Akufo-Addo’s administration simply followed through with the processes for...

Bank of Ghana committed to reducing interoperability charges – Governor

The Bank of Ghana has touted its achievement in reducing the interoperability charges within the mobile money transactions system. Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison in his speech at the official opening of Zeepay Head Office said the interoperability charge which used to be 1.5% has now been reduced to 1%. The achievement, according to him, will promote...

Firms’ survival in coronavirus era hinges on good corporate governance-Second Deputy Governor, BoG

Good corporate governance will be the defining issue that differentiates firms that will be able to ride the storm as the novel coronavirus pandemic rages on, the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Elsie Addo  Awadzi has said. According to her good governance would be the deciding factor for companies that survived the COVID-19 storm because...

We’ll turn ‘difficult’ NIB into an industrial bank

Finance Minister Designate, Ken Ofori-Atta has indicated the government plan of making the National Investment Bank an industrial bank to provide lending to industry to facilitate economic growth. “NIB has been a difficult one because of its nature, but NIB for us will be that industrial bank; we have put some money into that, we need to resolve final execution...

Ghana has come a long way in fostering the financial inclusion agenda – Addison

Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison has said Ghana has come a long way in fostering the financial inclusion agenda, with the Bank of Ghana at the forefront. He explained that the implementation of several policy measures geared towards banking the ‘unbanked’ and formalising the informal financial sector, constitutes integral parts of the overall strategy...

Banking sector cleanup saved over 4.5m customers from losing their deposits

Finance Minister-designate Ken Ofori-Atta has intimated that the banking sector cleanup saved about 4.5 million customers of affected institutions from losing their deposits. He, however, revealed that a total of GH₵ 21billion was spent on the exercise that, he says, strengthened the banking sector. “We think we have done the best that the country deserves and the...

Don’t pass 5% levy to customers – Banks urged

Players in the banking sector have been called upon not to pass on the additional five per cent tax imposed on their gross profits to their customers, particularly to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The Executive Director of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, who made the call in an interview with the Daily Graphic,...

Gross International Reserves Hit $8,719.7m

GHANA’s GROSS International Reserves at the end of February 2021 was US$8,719.7 million, providing cover for 4.2 months of imports of goods and services. The reserve level compares with the end-December 2020 position of US$8,624.4 million, equivalent to 4.1 months of import cover. Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the central bank, who made this known, also said, cumulatively the Cedi appreciated...