“If we really want to get the interest rates down, then the government must start with expenditure,” Mr. Thompson said on the Citi Breakfast Show.

[contextly_sidebar id=”19vcCZF7pzyrNt7FaMZwwrouwECeERRV”]This would mean government had to prepare to be unpopular, he said, as “the first thing is you have to look at is the payroll.”

Mr. Thompson was commenting on the latest Annual Percentage Rate (APR) report by the Bank of Ghana that revealed that the average interest on vehicle loans offered by commercial banks in Ghana reached 35 percent as at the end of February 2016.

“That is where the issue is; cut government’s expenditure and if you cut government’s expenditure, you reduce the government’s appetite for borrowing, interest rates will come down and then banks will be forced to lend to the private sector and we will start to be productive.”

At the rates of 16 to 25 percent, no one wants to lend to the private sector given the risk involved, he explained.

“In other countries where they have low-interest rates, the interest rates governments are paying are very low. In Europe now, it is negative so you are forced to lend to the real sector… If the government didn’t have any borrowing need, it wouldn’t go to the market and what would it do with their money? They would have to lend to us.”

Mr. Thompson also noted the adverse effects on average Ghanaian citing farmers who struggle to afford lending rates from his financial institution even with the subsidised offerings

“At my cost of money, farmers can’t afford it and we are saying that agriculture is the foundation of the recovery of this economy. These are big issues and we have to deal with them squarely but this stretching around the issue and pretending we are solving it is not going to get us anywhere.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Mrs Amissah-Arthur made the appeal during a presentation of medical supplies and equipment to St Andrew Hospital at Kordiabe, a rural community in the Shai Hills near Accra.

She commended Dalex Finance – Business of the Year who also presented a cheque for GH₵ 50,000.00, which was the second installment of a pledged GH₵300,000.00 to support the hospital’s rehabilitation project.

Mrs Amissah-Arthur charged the staff and indigenes of Kordiabe and its environs to take good care of the facility.

The donation also coincided with the inauguration of the 30- bed capacity hospital and a theatre at Kordiabe.

Mr Kenneth Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance who presented the cheque noted that the donation forms part of the broader Dalex Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives under the Health sector dubbed: Community and Charity.

He said through the CSR project Dalex have established a long-standing relationship and commitment to the health sector as one of its focus area for periodic interventions.

“We continue to donate to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and recent tiled the entire medical block,” he noted.

He said Dalex Financing join the St Andrew Hospital rehabilitation project in 2015, sponsored a breakfast engagement with corporate leaders in aid of the project, which yielded more than GH₵120,000.00.

Mr Thompson commended the Catholic Church and the Reverend Father Campbell who is the Parish Priest, Christ the King Parish in particular, for giving Dalex Finance the opportunity to “change lives” in Kordiabe.

The Dalex CEO applauded Fr Campbell’s credibility as a philanthropist, who gave all and expected nothing.

He expressed gratitude all the money contributed are going directly to the project.

Fr Campbell who received the donations on behalf of the Hospital thanked Mrs Amissah-Arthur and Dalex Finance for the support and urged them to continue the good work.

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Source: GNA

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