Lending Rate: 15 banks charging above 20% with the highest being 24.89%
The Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) with an interest rate of 24.89 percent has the highest lending rate in the country.
This, therefore, makes loans given out by the bank the most expensive when compared to the interest rates charged by the other 22 banks in the country
Closely following ADB in a list published by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) indicating the interest rate charged on loans by the various commercial banks, is Absa Bank with a lending rate of 23.59 percent.
The bank with the lowest lending rate according to the BoG is Cal Bank with a 15.97 percent interest charge on loans given.
Major bank’s such as Ecobank, GCB and Standard Chartered Bank charge interest rates of 18.41%, 22.80% and 20.82% on loans respectively.
Presently, the average lending rate in the banking industry stands at 20 percent.
The publication of the list of interest charges the BoG notes, is to help promote transparency in the pricing of loans granted by universal banks.
In related news, President Akufo-Addo has charged the newly constituted Governing Board of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to investigate the high-interest rates charged on loans by commercial banks in the country.
Instructing the new Governing Board at an inaugural ceremony at the Jubilee House, the President noted it is not right that while the BoG’s policy rate stood at 13.5 percent, commercial banks were charging above 21 percent on loans.
Adding that, the gap between the BoG’s policy rate and the lending rates of banks should be closed to enhance the competitiveness of Ghana’s private sector.
“I urge the new Governing Board of the Bank to interrogate the issue of high interest rates in the country and how the problem should be addressed to enhance the competitiveness of the private sector.
“It’s surely not right that the policy rate stands at 13.5 percent while commercial banks rate stands at 21 percent and above, this is a gap we have to break if we are to realise the vision of a Ghanaian economy that is globally competitive,” stated the President.
It is expected that the lending rates of banks in the country would be the same as the BoG’s prime rate, but that has not been the case as banks continue to lend to the private sector at a high rate despite the consistent reduction in the policy rate by the BoG.
Checkout list of lending rates below:
Average Lending Rates as at July 2021 by Fuaad Dodoo on Scribd
