Bank crisis: Government has saved jobs – Oppong-Nkrumah

Information minister-designate Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah says government has saved jobs in the banking industry despite claims of jobs losses in the wake of the banking crisis.

According to him, even though some jobs have been lost in the crisis, a lot more people would have been out of work if the Central Bank had not intervened.

There are fears the unemployment situation in the country would worsen as some 2000 staff of the defunct banks are to go home after the consolidation exercise by the Central Bank.

The BoG merged uniBank, Sovereign bank, Beige bank, Royal bank and Construction bank under the new name CBG.

The merger, according to the governor of the Central bank, Dr, Ernest Addison was necessary because the five banks were in critical financial distress.

Commenting on the development, the information minister designate said the government is minded to save jobs despite the challenges.

“It is true that some jobs have been lost but it is also true that a lot more jobs have been saved. We want people to understand that there is a banking resolution going on and this will help bolster confidence,” Mr. Oppong-Nkrumah told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday.

Meanwhile, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has advised the government and the Bank of Ghana to eschew partisan politics in its bid to cleanse the financial sector.

According to him, politicizing the exercise will defeat its purpose hence the need to purge the sector of politics to boost depositor and investor confidence.

“It is also important to put partisan politics when it comes to the financial markets – jobs, enterprise, money, opportunity cannot wear political colours,” the president and chairman of Groupe Nduom stated in a Facebook post.

Also, he called on the regulator to address the rise in panic withdraws within the financial sector because it has a huge potential to “sink our economy.”

Dr. Nduom has therefore appealed to the Central Bank to dialogue with all stakeholders to find solutions to the crisis in the sector.