Afua Asabea Asare speaking to some journalists
Afua Asabea Asare, Chief Executive of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), has called on banks to support GEPA to meet the growing financial needs of export-oriented Micro, Small & Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs).
She indicated that though loans to MSMEs have proven to be the riskiest of banks’ investment portfolios, these serve as the breeding ground for new industries from larger companies.
“Many studies show that the growth and sustainability of SMEs is always an augury of a stronger economy with dotted SME financial institutions. It also serves as a major feeder of raw materials for large enterprises,” she said.
Ms Asare, therefore, encouraged banks to show interest in the developmental phases of enterprises that are likely to seek loans from them.
She made the remarks at an export financing forum for MSMEs and banks on Thursday.
The forum, themed, “Bridging the export financing Gap” was aimed at providing a platform to discuss the challenges, processes, legal requirements and obligations of parties in the export sector.
Representatives of four banks, including Fidelity Bank, Stanbic Bank, Prudential Bank and GCB Bank, were also given the opportunity to introduce their tailor-made products for export-oriented MSMSEs.
Head of Transactional Products, Kodwo Arizie, advised MSME to fulfil their obligations when granted credit facilities so as to enable the banks grant more loans to other enterprises.
He added that the experience of banks with MSMEs, which failed to honour their obligations, had caused a lot of banks to review their policies on granting such facilities, hence making it difficult for enterprises to access them.
He described the intervention of government to mitigate the risk of banks in granting loans to exporters through the Ghana Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL) Programme as a laudable initiative.
Such interventions, he said, was necessary in getting more banks to invest in MSMEs through capacity building, corporate structure development, as well as negotiate with other stakeholders in the export chain.
GEPA, with a clientele base of 2,000, has embarked on initiatives such as the export school programme to build the capacity of Ghanaian businesses to help address the challenges of MSMEs in the country.
By Issah Mohammed
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