The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has lashed out at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for the merger of the Monetary Policy Rate and the Reverse Repo Rate and the subsequent increase in the monetary policy rate from 24 to 25 percent.
[contextly_sidebar id=”vnY3EhA6z6zzPrBfFnMiOlCQn0OYBAY4″]The AGI argues the cost of borrowing for the business community will remain high as most commercial banks will increase interest on loans and further make access to credit difficult.
President of AGI, James Asare Adjei told Citi Business News, the country risk losing industries especially in the export sector as competition will have an added advantage over their local counterparts.
‘’AGI and for that matter the private sector believes that by merging the repo rate and the monetary policy rate to bring it to an average of 24 percent in itself was not in the right direction for private sector growth’’
Describing the current growth of 25 percent as worrying, the AGI President noted that banks and other financial institutions will respond by increasing interest rates upwards.
‘’When that happens, cost of borrowing becomes very high and at the moment cost of doing business is unacceptable so if we keep on making it more expensive for businesses and industries to operate, we risk pricing out ourselves from our export market’’. James Asare Adjei stated.
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By: Lorrencia Nkrumah/citifmonline.com/Ghana