Banks demand good economic environment to address decline in credit to private sector
Commercial Banks in the country are demanding for an improved economic environment to help address the significant decline in lending to businesses over the past two years.
Since the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, credit to the private sector has gone down substantially, with banks also being cautious over fears of default by the private sector.
However, Chief Executive of the Association of Bankers, John Awuah, has indicated that banks cannot be entirely blamed for the slow down in credit advancement to the private sector.
“I want us to leave here knowing that the issue at hand which needs solving is not a bank problem. No, it is not a bank problem that we have covid with us, it’s not a bank problem that we have inflation at where it is, it’s not a bank problem that we have government borrowing at where it is, it’s not a bank problem. So there are a whole lot of other environmental factors or issues, economic variables that are trending south which banks are not directly responsible for.
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“We are economic agents and our role is to propel the wheels of the economy and provide financial ammunition, so the people who want money to do business will have access. I’ve said the industry has not closed the taps, I’ve not heard any bank talking about a freeze of loans or anything, you can talk to the bank staff or you can talk to some of the MDs and they will tell you, we are still having credit committees,” he said.
He, however, added that, Ghanaian banks are being careful about the way they lend to customers and not that they are not lending at all.
According to him, the recent financial sector cleanup and the raging pandemic have made banks very cautious of accumulating non-performing loans and assets on their balance sheets thus giving the impression that they are not lending.
He said even during the financial uncertainties occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, banks have continued to thrive, keeping the economy afloat.
“In other industries or in other countries, banks’ balance sheets have rather shrunk, lending to active productive sectors have significantly declined. So for us to be talking about a moderated growth I think it is a reflection of the times that we are in.”
“Banks coming from a cleaned-up environment, much as we are active and want to build the economy forward, we are also very careful because we are coming from a very recent history of extreme non-performing loans and you don’t want to pack assets on your balance sheet, take the benefit for one year and another two, three years we’ll be writing down those assets,” he stated in an interview.
