Rural Bank, District Assembly collaborate to reduce poverty
The Gomoa West District Assembly is to collaborate with the Gomoa Rural Bank to reduce poverty in the area.
To this end, the assembly is to help the bank to establish agencies to mobilize more money to support the people.
The assembly will also form co-operative societies and train them to become credit-worthy to enable them to access loans from the bank.
Mr Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah, the District Chief Executive, said this at the bank’s annual general meeting at Apam.
He said the Assembly had renovated two rooms at Mumford to be used by the bank for opening an agency.
He appealed to the people of the district to cultivate the habit of saving and to co-operate with the bank to reduce poverty in the area.
Mr S. Twumasi Ankrah, Manager of Efficiency Monitoring Unit of the ARB Apex Bank, commended the Board and Management of the Gomoa Rural Bank for a good performance that had made the bank to be rated 16th out of the 134 Rural/Community Banks (RCBs) in the country and second in the Central Region.
Mr Twumasi Ankrah urged RCBs to consider micro-finance and promote it to sustain their banks.
He said ARB Apex Bank would soon come out with a programme to assist RCBs to train graduates from the universities and polytechnics selected from the locality of the banks who would stay in the communities and work with the RCBs.
Mr Kobena Agyei Acheampong, Assistant Director at the Apex Bank, said 90 per cent of banks had been liquidated due to bad customers and appealed to customers to help the banks to grow instead of killing them.
Mr Andrews B. Simpson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, said the bank’s total assets increased from GH¢1, 432,335 in 2009 to GH¢2, 136,485 in 2010 and deposits from GH¢864,607 in 2009 to GH¢1, 456,603 in 2010.
Investment rose from GH¢999, 419 to GH¢1, 406,483 and loans from GH¢154, 855 to GH¢441, 022. Stated capital rose from GH¢156, 308 to GH¢156, 773.
Profit after tax dropped from GH¢138, 464 to GH¢60,799.
Mr Simpson explained that the profit dropped due to increment offered to the staff of the bank.
Source: GNA