The Vice-President presenting a certificate to Baybars Altuntas
The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has said the high level of interest rates in the country is still a concern for the government.
He said it is somehow affecting the ease with which people do businesses in the country. Besides, he said the situation could undermine the nurturing of entrepreneurs.
Speaking on the theme, ‘Innovative financing for entrepreneurs’, at the opening of the country office of World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) in Accra yesterday, the Vice-President said: “The challenges faced by businesses – small and large in Ghana – have bedeviled us as a country not only in Ghana but also in many developing countries in Africa and beyond.”
He also said access to credit is a big problem, adding that “collateral matters that face people who try access credit from banks are a major issue.”
The Vice-President insisted that “when savings are outside the financial system, then there is a problem structurally because the interest rates are determined by demand and supply – the supply comes from savings.”
He said: “So if savings are not there or they are kept elsewhere, then structurally the interest rates will be higher than otherwise would have been the case.”
He challenged managers of WBAF to help develop new financing schemes for businesses in Ghana.
The WBAF which has Baybars Altuntas as Chairman of its Board of Directors is an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) and an international organization aiming to ease access to finance businesses from start-ups to scale-ups with the ultimate goal of generating more jobs and more social justice worldwide.
It is committed to collaborating globally to empower world economic development by creating innovative financial instruments for innovators, start-ups and small and media enterprises.
