33% interest rate killing Ghanaian businesses

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• Goldcoast 9 years ago

  How come we are wallowing as a third world country?
  And did Singapore made it?
  Please can somebody help me with answers?

  How come we are wallowing as a third world country?
  And did Singapore made it?
  Please can somebody help me with answers?

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• STONER KOBYLYNTON 9 years ago

  Goldcoast, the factors that had retrogressed our development as a nation are too many. Dr. Koh just pointed out 2-major ones which are connected to any economy, especially interest rates on loans and electricity.
  
  During th ...
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  Goldcoast, the factors that had retrogressed our development as a nation are too many. Dr. Koh just pointed out 2-major ones which are connected to any economy, especially interest rates on loans and electricity.
  
  During the 2008 global economic meltdown, most western countries governments whom we learn from instituted a zero interest rates to Banks. That zero interest rate made banks also loaned to customers at a very low interest rates. In that sense, entrepreneurs were able to borrow and expand their business and new entrants also took that advantage to announce themselves in the business community. Remember that governments do not create jobs but rather make the economic field attractive for you and me to take advantage to set up business and hire job seekers. From that, government collects taxes from entrepreneurs and pay roll taxes from the workers. Again governments benefit by borrowing from Social Security Contributions from workers and their employers to advance economic and social infrastructures. With such 33% astronomical interest rate few entrepreneurs can swim in that swift economic current and survive. United States of America cut their interest rate to 0% since the beginning of 2009 and that had made it possible for the average 200,000 jobs creation monthly.
  
  With the electricity issue, past government did not have the vision about mix energy. I may be wrong but it is said that, late Dr. K.A Busia once said that, deforestation on the volta river banks will have a dire consequence in future for our energy needs. I think his point was down played by his political opponents as usual in those days but his prediction has come to be reality. It is not late to take the bull by the horn by inviting smart men and women irrespective of their political inclinations to come and help build the nation we all love to call as home country.
  
  Our education system is also corrupted that a present day university graduate cannot compete with a Form 5 product in the '60s. The downward trend of our education system was caused by Mr. Rawlings and he saw it smart to educate his children in overseas at the expense of the poor tax payer. And the question is was it sensible to educate his 4 children in overseas and leave thousands of the citizens to be educated in a rotten school system? You do not plant a plantain and expect to get yam as its yield. We are paying for our own iniquities.

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• Abigi 9 years ago

  This is a very good question to ask and I will try to help as much as possible. Singapore did not start on the path of government providing everything to everybody. On the other hand, we started by educating everyone for free ...
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  This is a very good question to ask and I will try to help as much as possible. Singapore did not start on the path of government providing everything to everybody. On the other hand, we started by educating everyone for free including books, sandals and food. We started by creating big governments that suppressed individual freedom and motivation. We created government corporations, unions and corruption. It killed the individual motivational spirit but created dependency and entitlement mentality. Ghanaians are entitled to everything, I mean everything from government i.e. condoms and pads. The corporations created by government became the gold mine of party favourites i.e. Woyome and NDC speaks to what I am alluding. Remember Apino and JJ Rawlings do not buy Apino. We have used government to control Ghana and kill motivation. On the economy, we have government borrowing everything in the banks in the name of showing off projects for votes. Government borrowing crowds out private borrowing and business will have to fold. Honestly, I will never borrow at this rate, however, I will ask anyone with cedis to just put it in the bank and make at least 25%. There is nowhere in the world one can enjoy 33% rate. After all, why should you work or think if you can make 33%. Singapore has a robust capitalist economy, where individuals are rewarded through hard work and innovation. You are not entitled to anything but entitled to what you bring to the market. If you are lazy or stupid you get the crumbs. If you are hard working create wealth you enjoy better living standards. There is nothing like serial callers getting cars and goodies. Nothing like FOOL Soldiers going on vacation to watch world cup. People like SAM George will be working $8/hr for his stupidity. I can go on and on, however, the bottom line is that Ghana lost its way and we are paying for it.

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• Senior Wisdom 9 years ago

  Unfortunately the Ghanaian mentality is to make profit from one person. An interest rate of 33% is criminal. Ghanaians open shop abroad and sell a malt for 1pond 50pence when an Indian shop next door sells it for 50pence, why ...
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  Unfortunately the Ghanaian mentality is to make profit from one person. An interest rate of 33% is criminal. Ghanaians open shop abroad and sell a malt for 1pond 50pence when an Indian shop next door sells it for 50pence, why will the shop not be closed in a year. Banks used to quote an interest rate as high as this because they said the cedi was not strong. Now they charge the same interest rate if you borrow in dollars or dollar equivalent. Why would anybody with an alternative source choose to borrow from these Ghanaian backs.

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• MENSA 9 years ago

  THIS COUNTRY WILL NEVER MAKE IT WITH A PRESEDINT THAT ALWAS TRAVEL AND HAVE ZERO ECONOMIC PLANS FOR THIS COUNTRY.AND WITH TAX GALORE ON EVERYTHING IN GHANA AND HIGH VAT RATE AND FEES AND 33% INTRESET RATE WE ARE DOOM UNTIL S ...
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  THIS COUNTRY WILL NEVER MAKE IT WITH A PRESEDINT THAT ALWAS TRAVEL AND HAVE ZERO ECONOMIC PLANS FOR THIS COUNTRY.AND WITH TAX GALORE ON EVERYTHING IN GHANA AND HIGH VAT RATE AND FEES AND 33% INTRESET RATE WE ARE DOOM UNTIL SOME REAL LEADER WAKE UP AND INTREDUCE HIMSELF TO THE GHANA PEOPLE

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• daladam 9 years ago

  ANY FOOL KNOW IT , BUT NO ONE AT THE NDC GOVT OR BANK OF GHANA KNOW IT,IS IT NOT TELLING US HOW STUPID BOTH THIS GOVT AND BOG ARE?HOW DO WE EVER GET OUT FROM BEING 3RD WORLD COUNTRY WITH THE FOOLISH LEADERS THAT SI ...
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  ANY FOOL KNOW IT , BUT NO ONE AT THE NDC GOVT OR BANK OF GHANA KNOW IT,IS IT NOT TELLING US HOW STUPID BOTH THIS GOVT AND BOG ARE?HOW DO WE EVER GET OUT FROM BEING 3RD WORLD COUNTRY WITH THE FOOLISH LEADERS THAT SIMPLY DONT GET IT?

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• DENTERN 9 years ago

  IS MAHAM LISTENING?THIS MESSAGE IS FOR MAHAMA

  IS MAHAM LISTENING?THIS MESSAGE IS FOR MAHAMA

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• Paa Joe 9 years ago

  SUCH A HIGH INTETEST RATE,CLEARLY CONFIRMS THAT, GHANA DO NOT STILL HAVE TRULY EDUCATED ECONOMISTS.
  
  TITLES ARE ONLY USED TO MANIPULATE AND TO DUPE THE NATION.
  
  HOW LONG SHOULD SUCH A HIGH INTETEST RATE BE ALLOWED TO BE ...
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  SUCH A HIGH INTETEST RATE,CLEARLY CONFIRMS THAT, GHANA DO NOT STILL HAVE TRULY EDUCATED ECONOMISTS.
  
  TITLES ARE ONLY USED TO MANIPULATE AND TO DUPE THE NATION.
  
  HOW LONG SHOULD SUCH A HIGH INTETEST RATE BE ALLOWED TO BE CHARGED IN THE COUNTRY.
  
  WHY DO WE CONTINUE TO DESTROY THE ECONOMY, THE PEOPLE AND THE NATION.

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• daniel 9 years ago

  you are right Mr Koh, Ghana must generate more energy than we consume and have reserve, its because our leaders dont plan ahead thats why we are in this mess.Secondly how can you borrow money with %33 as interest rate,? only ...
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  you are right Mr Koh, Ghana must generate more energy than we consume and have reserve, its because our leaders dont plan ahead thats why we are in this mess.Secondly how can you borrow money with %33 as interest rate,? only in Ghana and this is killing small scale businesses which need support from the bank to expand their business and employ more people.I dont know if its lack of vision or a curse on Ghana

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• BBCy 9 years ago

  It took the Singapore leader less than twenty years to turn Singapore fortunes around whilest JJ has wasted 20 years of Ghana's history and fortune killing innocent people and stealing.
  Singapore do not have 1/40th of ghanai ...
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  It took the Singapore leader less than twenty years to turn Singapore fortunes around whilest JJ has wasted 20 years of Ghana's history and fortune killing innocent people and stealing.
  Singapore do not have 1/40th of ghanaians rich resources yet a leader with vision has restored them.Rawlings is a nation wrecker who should be shot like he did to the three high court judges.
  33% interst rate Wheras in U.k our interest rate is only 0.5%.

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• Bostonman redsox 9 years ago

  do we need to hire some Victor dude to tell us the obvious? stupid leaders in the country including ndc npp cpp etc are too busy fighting and agitating the masses to fight on ethnic basis and dividing us. Fix the country. The ...
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  do we need to hire some Victor dude to tell us the obvious? stupid leaders in the country including ndc npp cpp etc are too busy fighting and agitating the masses to fight on ethnic basis and dividing us. Fix the country. There is so much issues so let's start with the easy hanging fruit solutions - fix the energy problem thru sources like solar, invest in clean drinking water, build underground sewage to prevent flooding while doing away with the open gutters, encourage a sense of self responsibility so Ghanaians will stop being lazy and work, too many lazy people depending on other people. Then makes laws curtail these unreasonable interest rates not fix the banking system.

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• ' and Jesus wept. ' 9 years ago

  Address this to the nation wreckers. If they had left osagyefo alone, we wouldn't have been in this mess.

  Address this to the nation wreckers. If they had left osagyefo alone, we wouldn't have been in this mess.

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• c.stephen sackey. 9 years ago

  "And Jesus wept" you right.
  It's the internal sabotuers- those bought off-who strangulated the forward movement of Pan African's probable shinning nation on a hill.
  
  One of the perpetrators even has his name adorning our i ...
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  "And Jesus wept" you right.
  It's the internal sabotuers- those bought off-who strangulated the forward movement of Pan African's probable shinning nation on a hill.
  
  One of the perpetrators even has his name adorning our international airport. And it disgust me to see that name everytime I get to that airport.That name - the symbol of a nation wrecker-should come down & replaced by KNIA.
  
  And that Singaporean economist.He was just lucky to be born and reared in Lee Kuan Yew'a city-state of Singapore.This was a man who ruled Singapore for 31years without any thought of being overthrown by his own army.In those years he instituted the same economic development our Nkrumah had as his economic model.
  He estaished industrial zones,- ala Nkrumah's Kaneshi industrial zone , Tema industrial area,etc, training colleges for workers,first class infranstructure, which powered his city-state's growth as an export hub.
  For his unobstructed management of the economy of that country he helped grow the gross domestic product per capita, which stood at $512 in 1965 to $56,000 in recent years-similar to levels in the US and surpassing those of Japan and Germany.
  Folks this man ran this "nanny state"-dubbed so by Western media ,for over 30 years.
  Imagine if our Nkrumah had had just half of this man's tenure as a head of the state of Ghana instead of the 9 years.
  
  Folks we know who the enemy is,and it's us.And,it's as exemplified by the ruinous twenty years rule by Rawlings and currently the minions he spawned in the NDC.
  
  Bacto the good doctor's economic prognosis on Ghana's economy.
  Folks his take on the interest rate multipler effect on the economy is no rocket science.Anybody who has any sense can see it's detrimental effect on economic growth. For, if for every $1.00 borrowed $.33 is set aside to finance it, there is no way any enterpreneur can service that loan, make a profit and grow the business left alone to hire employees. It's just not sustainable economically.
  The question I have then , for the governor and the deputies of the Bank of Ghana is, what is their mandate?
  Isn't it to control inflation and spur employment-just like the Fed? In essence, to set a monetary policy for the country by mining economic data to spur economic growth , higher employment while taming inflation, the scourge of all economies?They may not have the gravitas of Bernarke- but they've heard of QE.
  They can utilize their crack micro economists-the banks policy makers- to generate several economic models of QE for adoption. Folks. interest rate rule the waves for better or for worse! It just have to be tamed before it devours us!
  At this level of interest rate, public financing- the money the government borrows to ran it-either for capital investment or entitlement programs, could not be sustainable. If it reaches more than 60 percent of GDP, that's wading into uncharted waters- for a developing country.
  God bless Africa.

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• kankam, 9 years ago

  All these things are happening because Ghanaians were not lucky we have a corrupt party like NDC in Ghana and they have produced selfish and corrupt leaders and useless ministers who always think about how to steal money from ...
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  All these things are happening because Ghanaians were not lucky we have a corrupt party like NDC in Ghana and they have produced selfish and corrupt leaders and useless ministers who always think about how to steal money from their own country instead of planning to make lives better for the citizenry.

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• Faisal 9 years ago

  Our economic professors and Doctors have failed us, for all this while they have not been able to point out this simple issues.
  Financial institutions are milking us as well. just this month a country like Sweden have Intere ...
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  Our economic professors and Doctors have failed us, for all this while they have not been able to point out this simple issues.
  Financial institutions are milking us as well. just this month a country like Sweden have Interest Rate ?0.25
  they have transparent and honest accounting system well inform professional to advice govt and policy makers, we interested in only titles

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• ataa 9 years ago

  The TUC, AFAG, Occupy Ghana, Imani, should go on demo against banks for high interest rates. See the profits they are posting after paying themselves fat salaries and soft loans for houses and cars. Givexa date and stop dist ...
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  The TUC, AFAG, Occupy Ghana, Imani, should go on demo against banks for high interest rates. See the profits they are posting after paying themselves fat salaries and soft loans for houses and cars. Givexa date and stop disturbing

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• Kobby 9 years ago

  Interesting reading and will be happy to see the response from the NDC / govt communicators on this analysis though not something that we don't know as Ghanaians. Our problem is politicking on almost everything! Poor leadersh ...
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  Interesting reading and will be happy to see the response from the NDC / govt communicators on this analysis though not something that we don't know as Ghanaians. Our problem is politicking on almost everything! Poor leadership and mediocrity....

  reply