Minister of Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has stressed the need for local banks to provide financial support to Ghanaian industries to boost their competitiveness and market expansion.
Speaking on The Point of View with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV, she addressed concerns from industry stakeholders about challenges in securing adequate financing.
“As a Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, I’m interested in how these industries will be financed. Finance has been a major challenge, one of the challenges is financing,” she said.
Ofosu-Adjare acknowledged a proposal from a banker during the National Economic Dialogue, suggesting that funds held by the Bank of Ghana without interest could be repurposed as soft loans for private sector players in key growth areas.
“It is our responsibility to facilitate, create the enabling environment for them to get good financing. I really respected a contribution from one of the bankers. She said, ‘If we target areas of growth, we could speak to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana [Dr. Johnson Asiama], speak to the Minister for Finance [Dr. Ato Forson], so that some of their funds that are kept without any interest, they could give as soft loans to these private sector practitioners who are interested in the areas that we are focusing our attention,'” she stated.
She also highlighted the importance of the two-day National Economic Dialogue, noting its role in fostering collaboration among industry leaders to develop solutions to sector challenges.
“I think this is a very good dialogue, where industry players are suggesting ways of solving industry problems,” she added.
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