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Government to boost private sector with Enterprise Credit Scheme

Accra, Nov 13, GNA –
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance has announced that the government
will begin major interventions to boost private sector credit to support for
the business community.

Already, he said the
government had engaged many stakeholders with respect to access credit for the
private sector to grow.

Delivering the 2020
budget to parliament on Wednesday, Mr Ofori-Atta said the key institutions to
anchor the shift would be the National Development Bank (NDB) and the Ghana
Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF).

He said the
government would establish the Enterprise Credit Scheme (ECS) to support the
private sector to ensure that they accessed a reasonable level of lending rates
to grow and create employment.

Mr Ofor-Atta said
the Government was working together with the Banking Community to launch a GH¢2
billion-credit and guarantee scheme in 2020.

He noted that the
initiative would be structured to incentivise banks to lend to private sector
at discounted lending rates and would be targeted at specific industries
including agri- business, manufacturing, hospitality and tourism and the
tech-sector amongst others.

Mr Oforu-Atta stated
that the government would partner Fintech companies, local Banks and mobile
money operators to deliver micro credit to Ghanaian businesses and individuals.

The intervention, he
explained would seek to deliver quick loans on favourable terms using
technology driven platforms to do the credit assessment.

The Minister said
the initiative was in line with Government’s digitisation agenda and offered an
opportunity for small and medium businesses to apply for loans on their mobile
phones with minimal human intervention.

He said the
initiative would commence in the first quarter of 2020 and would provide the
needed micro capital for business expansion and capital expenditures. “It will
also support the working capital needs of small Ghanaian businesses. Our market
women will be able to access credit using their mobile money wallets to stock
up goods in order to sell more.

The initiative is
expected to increase productivity and profitability as well as contribute to
job creation.

This is in direct
response to our findings from the nationwide survey,” he said.

He said the
government would encourage the establishment of Private Equity, Venture Capital
and Mutual Funds, which will improve the ecosystem for start-ups.

GNA

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