By: Gloria Anderson
Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs have been entreated to embrace formalization of their businesses so as to get the needed support from financial institutions, particularly the banks.
In an interview with Gloria Anderson on the sidelines of a workshop on exports requirements under the EPA, the Executive Head, Research, Business Intelligence and Market Conduct of the Ghana Association of Banks, Dr. Ebenezer Ashley said more often than not, banks are unable to give out support to SMEs as their operations are not well structured, hence lack the necessary documentation.
The training was organized by the EU, Trade Ministry and Compete Ghana, to contribute to improved economic governance.
He indicated that the Association is embarking on an initiative where banks are rolling out various SME programmes, through giving out loans with moderate interests to help boost their businesses as well as equipping them with skills and techniques needed to enable their Enterprises to thrive.
Dr Ebenezer Ashley said the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB), fully supports the Ghana-European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), (Ghana-EU EPA).
He said the idea of increasing exports of goods to the EU market as far as the EPA was concerned, was what businessmen and women were looking out for.
The Executive Head said, “as we speak, Ghana is an import led economy, we are looking for the stage where we will be able to transform from import led to export led, so that the fall in the value of the local currency relative to the major foreign currencies will be a thing of the past.”
Mr Ashley noted that there was the need to strengthen the cedis, and that one way of doing so was to ease the pressure on the currency with regards to importation.
He said the banks were looking for such opportunities for businesses to have strong value chain and value addition ideas, such that payments of loans offered to them would not be a challenge.
The Executive Head said banks have decided to organise various clinics this year for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to invite them to apply for loans.
“So, what is required now is to ensure that we have businesses that are well documented to ease the interactive process with the banks and facilitate the delivery or approval of loans for the SMEs, and I can say that one of the banks is offering loans for SMEs for ten per cent,” Mr Ashley added.
He indicated that the association had faced challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and the debt restructuring exercise by the government, and that it was vital to try to put the economy back on its growth path.
Team Lead of Compete Ghana, Nicolas Gebara was excited to hear that the Ghana Bank Association fully supports the Ghana EU Partnerships Agreements and is willing to support small and medium scale businesses take advantage of the EPA.
‘’This is a step in a direction which will increase Ghana’s export to the EU market’’.
The Ghana-EU EPA is a trade and development agreement under which Ghanaian exporters benefit from duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market.
Under the EPA, Ghana had agreed to open gradually from 2021 till 2029 its market to around 80 per cent of EU products, which would increase the country’s competitiveness in the regional markets.