Member of Parliament for Assin Central and immediate past Chairman on Local Government Committee in Parliament, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong has urged President Akufo-Addo to reduce banking interest rate in order to enhance Ghanaian businesses.
According to him, even though the current rate is better than during the tenure of ex-President John Dramani Mahama, reducing it further will help traders, especially during this COVID-19 era.
“In 2017, many business people were complaining about high banking interest rate when the prime rate (Bank of Ghana Rate) was twenty-two percent (22%) whilst the commercial rate was thirty-two to thirty-six percent (32%-36%), this was how the then NDC John Dramani Mahama led government left it,” he said.
Mr. Agyapong further explains that “under President Akufo-Addo, between 2018 to today, the prime rate is Fourteen Point Five percent (14.5% at BANK OF GHANA) and the commercial rate is between Twenty-Two and Twenty-Six percent (22% – 26%), which he believes is a dramatic reduction in the banking interest rate”.
He pleaded with President Akufo-Addo and his government to further consider reducing the banking interest rate to allow Ghanaian businesses to grow, more especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Assin Central MP’s comments came up on Thursday, March 11, 2021, at the plenary of Parliament, when he was contributing to the State of the Nation Address [SONA] delivered by the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
