17% Growth: BoG reveals the cause of rising banks deposits

The Bank of Ghana has revealed the deposits levels in banks are on the rise as a result of reforms put in place to clean up the financial sector.

The increasing growth rate was evident in the total deposits gained by banks at the end of October 2019.

The Bank of Ghana in a bid to sanitise the country’s banking sector has reduced the number of banks in the country from 34 to 23 following a raise in the minimum capital requirement.

Bank of Ghana reports that commercial banks’ deposit grew by 17.1 percent for October 2019.

Total deposits increased from from 67.38 billion cedis to 78.9 billion cedis in October 2019. Thus representing a 11.51 billion cedis growth.

Domestic deposits also recorded a total deposits of 78.5 billion cedis from 67.04 billion cedis in October 2018.

On the other hand, deposits of non-residents, which is the population other than persons residing in Ghana, remained small at 397.7 million cedis; though it increased from 342.1 million cedis in the year before.

The central bank believes its resolve to crack the whip and ensure that operators complied with regulatory requirements, led to the improvement recorded for the period.