Access to credit will remain a challenge – Economist

Economist Courage Kinsley Martey assessed that access to credit in the economy will continue to be a challenge, for the private sector and the business community.

The Bank of Ghana released its latest data on annual percentage rates (APR) of interest charged on loans and credit advances and the average interest (AI) paid on deposits by banks,

The data is based on figures available as at January 31, 2017.

According to the report, sovereign bank charges as high as 19.5 percent on deposits, with Standard Chartered charging the lowest, 4.3 percent.

Speaking to 3FM business, economist Courage Kinsley Martey says the private sector will still have to battle with this as a challenge.

“The banks still perceive the economic situation as challenging, and so they are rather slapping huge interests on deposits. This then means that access to credit in this particular regime is going to remain constraint despite the lower base rates”, he stated.

He has cautioned financial institutions to go by the accepted average industry rates, to create a flexible environment for doing business.

Click here for BoG’s APR and AI report