Rural banks urged to support agriculture

Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, Western Regional Minister, has appealed to rural and community banks to give special dispensation of loan to the agriculture sector.

He said this when addressing the 2nd Biennial General Meeting of the Western Regional Chapter of the Association of Rural Banks-Ghana at Takoradi.

Mr Aidoo expressed the hope that rural and community banks, which are noted for granting of micro credit to the rural dweller, would assist the government to develop the agriculture sector.

He said there are a lot of deposits outside the banking stream and rural and community banks should devise strategies to mobilise such funds into the banking system.

Mr Aidoo said rural and community banks would not be protected against any intrusion by commercial banks and the time had come for a paradigm shift from the original concept of rural banks operating as unitary banks in a protected catchments area to the merging of rural and community banks.

He said one of the surest ways of staying in business and meeting the challenges of the competition is through co-operative merging of rural and community banks.

Mr Aidoo said in the face of these developments, which threaten the operations of the rural banks, the best solution is “Together for survival through mergers”.

He said the region is now blessed with oil and therefore, rural and community banks should establish links with their district assemblies and the oil companies to grow their businesses.

Mr Aidoo said the government is prepared to collaborate with rural and community banks in the region to provide banking services to auxiliary firms that would emanate from the oil companies support services.

Mr Eric Osei-Bonsu, Managing Director of the Association of Rural Banks (ARB) Apex Bank Limited, said to date, there are 133 rural and community banks with over 560 agencies in the country.

He said 12 out of the 14 rural and community banks in the Western Region are operating profitably.

Mr Osei-Bonsu said only 62 out of the 127 rural and community banks whose performance had been assessed had met the mandatory paid-up capital requirement of 150,000 Ghana Cedis.

He said in the Western Region, six out of the 14 rural and community banks have met the 150,000 Ghana Cedis paid-up capital requirement by the Bank of Ghana.

Mr Osei-Bonsu urged the National Secretariat of the Association of Rural Banks to play an advocacy role in the merger of rural and community banks campaign.

Mr Osei-Bonsu said some of the country’s big banks including the Merchant Bank and the Trust Bank had initiated steps to conclude a merger by December this year.

He said the ARB Apex Bank is in discussions with the donor community for support towards mergers.

Mrs Rose Newman, the President of the Association of Rural Banks-Ghana, said the association is holding discussion with the appropriate authorities to consider using rural and community banks in the disbursement of the District Assemblies Common Fund.

She advised rural and community banks to establish banking relationships with the district assemblies.

Source: GNA