Finance Ministry releases ¢1bn for Microfinance sector clean up

Date: 24 May 2019

By Justice Kofi Bimpeh

Category: Business

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta

The finance ministry has released about GH¢1 billion to aid the cleanup of the microfinance and rural bank sectors.

According to Myjoyonline, the funds were released earlier this month for the project.

Gov't secures money for Microfinance sector clean up

The government in May this year disclosed that they have secured the funds that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) requested to be able to clean up the operations of Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) and make them more solid to be able to support economic growth meaningfully, the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, has disclosed.

The ministry recently ring-fenced the GH¢700 million in an escrow account, pending the completion of “some logistical arrangements” to allow for the actual clean up exercise to begin, the minister told the Daily Graphic in Accra on May 6.

Although Mr Ofori-Atta did not say whether the central bank would begin with the Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) or the savings and loans companies (S&LCs), the two set of financial institutions that are the apex of the NBFIs subsector, he assured the public that the government and BoG were “almost ready” for the much-talked-about clean up of the NBFIs subsector to begin.

When asked about the specific date that the exercise would commence, the minister said, “we are yet to meet and decide on that but in terms of preparedness, we have the money ready.”