Govt pledges support for ECOWAS bank

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday pledged government's support for the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development for it to help the country's private sector.

He said " the Bank's guarantee to the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) and the National Investment Bank (NIB) to source for loans outside the country indicates that you mean business and I will support you as President of Ghana and Chairman of ECOWAS".

President Kufuor made the pledge when Mr Christian Adovelande, President of the Bank, led a four-man delegation to pay a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu.

He said, "I like the business approach you are bringing into the Bank's operations. I also do appreciate the problems of non-payment of capital by member countries of ECOWAS to enable the Bank to operate effectively due to the many priority areas confronting the governments".

President Kufuor called on the management of the Bank to continue to persevere to uplift the image of the Bank from the Sub-Regional level to an international level for the benefit of the people.

He gave the assurance that Ghana would soon submit names of representatives to the Board of Governors and Directors of the Bank.

Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, said Ghana's equity payment to the bank had been included in this year's budget to be released soon.

He appealed to the Bank to use its leverage to access loans from international banks to support the private sector in member countries.

Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Private Sector Development, said the linkages established between the bank and the private sector in Ghana had enabled the private sector to access long-term loan facilities for their operations.

He said in the past loans to begin and expand businesses was lacking but with the assistance of the bank there had been much improvement.

Mr Bartels said the bank began with the guaranteeing of a 40 million-dollar loan from the HSBC for the salt industry and agro-processing in the country, and "there had been assurances that more assistance from the HSBC would be provided to support the President's Special Initiatives in Palm Oil; Garments and Textiles industries.

Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Economic Development and Regional Integration, said Ghana had applied for financial assistance to reactivate the Jute factory in Kumasi.

He said in the past Ghana was not accessing funds from the bank and appealed to the management of the fund to expedite action on the processing to enable Ghana to access the loans.

Mr Adovelande, a Beninois who assumed duty about six months ago, said the delegation was in Ghana to present a progress report on the transformation process going on within the bank to the ECOWAS Chairman, President Kufuor.

He said the bank shared in the government's vision of promoting the private sector to create wealth and fight poverty and this could be achieved through massive support to the sector.

Mr Adovelande said some member countries had failed to pay their submission to the bank and that had prevented the bank from mobilising the needed funds to support countries within the Sub-Region.

"There are a lot of delays in the bank's desire to move rapidly since there are a lot to do to operate effectively in the Sub-Region," he added.

Mr Adovelande later presented a copy of the Bank's report to President Kufuor.