Lack of unique identification system for Ghana hampers credit market – Terkper

The Minister of Finance says there are challenges facing participants of the credit market as a result of lack of a unique national identification system for the country.

According to Mr. Seth Terkper, this makes identification of borrowers in the credit market somewhat difficult, leading to certain malpractices.

The Minister was speaking at the launch of Ghana’s newly redesigned web-based Collateral Registry run by the central bank in Accra last week.

Terkper said, “as a pragmatic and comprehensive solution to the challenges regarding the National Identification Programme, government has made a commitment in the 2013 budget to consolidate the role of the National Identification Authority (NIA) to be responsible for the compilation and management of all primary biometric data for official use.”

The Collateral Registry is a body established by Parliament under the Act 773 to principally register charges and collaterals created by borrowers to secure credit facilities provided by lenders.

By Pascal Kelvin Kudiabor