The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta said a total clean up was required as Ghana prepares to exit the IMF programme.
The Minister noted that although there have been debilitating effects with regards to happenings in the financial sector, the mop up was necessary as any delay could lead to more challenges for employees and depositors.
Speaking at a Seminar in Accra to mark the 2018 Capital Market, Mr. Ofori-Atta said the market is an integral part of Ghana’s economy, hence efforts must be geared towards ensuring its growth.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta was emphatic that government is working hard to strengthen the capital market to ensure economic transformation as Ghana exits the IMF programme by close of the year.
“The last 20 twenty months experienced one of the extraordinary financial sector challenges facing this country and one of the difficult situation this government inherited in GDP terms, is that the sector declined from 13 Billion to 12 Billion in 2017 and contracted further through this year and all is as a result of our attempt to clean up the Banking industry” he added.
According to the Minister, government inherited financial systems that have been severely compromised and needs urgent repairs.
The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Rev Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh also urged securities market operators to desist from misinforming investors, as that is a serious breach adding that, the Commission would respond appropriately in case of such infractions.
The Commission he noted, is taking steps to strengthen its enforcement function to foster a strong culture of compliance among market operators.
The President of the GSIA, Emmanuel Asiedu expressed the need for investor education to be intensified. He added that “we need to do more education, we are not going to do the ordinary education we have been doing but the tertiary education on Social media and many others”.
Mr. Asiedu advised the public to do due diligence when taking investment decisions.
The third Ghana Securities Industry Association, GSIA, Capital Market Week focuses on “the role of good corporate governance in the transformation of Ghana’s capital markets”.
The current happenings in the financial sector have revealed the ills in the governance structure of most of the collapsed banks. Hence, good corporate governance is imminent in ensuring the growth of a robust financial industry. The capital market which is core to the economy must therefore be given critical attention.
Story by:Mabel Adorkor Annang and Maryam Hassan
