Mortgage finance will be affordable

Accra, Nov. 29, GNA - Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, on Wednesday reiterated Government's commitment to partner the private sector to make mortgage loans very affordable and reliable to all in the country.

He said: "Mortgage hardly exists in Ghana and in cases where they are available the price scares the ordinary Ghanaian away."

Mr Owusu-Agyemang said this when Mr John Simon, Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), who is currently in the country for the West African High Level Peer Exchange Conference on Government Ennoblement of Private Sector Lending for Affordable Housing, called on him in Accra.

He, however, expressed the optimism that banks saw the need to mortgage financing and to incorporating it into their activities to assist the people.

Mr Owusu-Agyemang said the cost of housing still remained high in the country and, therefore, the majority of the disadvantaged could not afford to build their own houses.

He said the Government was putting in modalities to improve the overall housing infrastructure.

Mr Simon said Ghana's economy at present required long-term investments for her economic and social advancement. He pledged United States Government's support for Ghana and said it would assist the Government in the provision of affordable housing through long-term mortgage financing.