Banks increase assets

Total assets of the banking industry as at the end of June 2013 increased to GH¢30.6 billion compared to GH¢24.6 billion in June 2012. This was driven mainly by advances which accounted for 44.7 percent of the total assets.

Dr. Kofi Wampah, Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG), who made this known at the close of a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Accra, said the asset growth was mainly funded by deposits which recorded an annual growth of 13.3 percent to GH¢20.4 billion at the end of June 2013.

He said Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio in the banking industry decreased to 12.8 percent in June 2013 from 13.2 percent in June 2012, adding that the ratio, excluding the loss category, also declined to 4.7 percent from 5.9 percent in the same period. Dr. Wampah said interest rates broadly remained unchanged since the May.

He said, “The 91-day Treasury bill rate moved from 23.0 to 23.1 percent and the 182-day bill remained unchanged at 23.0 percent.

“The 1-year note rate declined from 22.1 percent to 22.0 percent while the 2-year moved from 22.4 to 23.0 percent. The 3-year bond rate rose from 16.9 percent in May to 19.2 percent in June. There was no issue of the 5-year bond during the period,” he said. Dr. Wampah said the weighted average interbank rate inched up from 16.9 percent to 17.0 percent in June 2013.

He said the new Base Rate formula, which seeks to ensure transparency and uniformity in loan pricing in the banking industry, became operational during the period. Dr. Wampah noted that the banks had fully complied with the new framework, with the industry average base rate declining by 3.0 percent.

He said average lending rates of the banks rose to 27.4 percent in June 2013 from 27.1 percent in April 2013, stressing that the average rate on 3-month time deposits remained stable around 12.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Dr. Wampah said Annual growth in private sector credit slowed to 33.5 percent in nominal terms at the end of June 2013 from 39.0 percent in June 2012. “Similarly, annual growth of real private sector credit was 20.1 percent in June 2013 down from 27.0 percent in June 2012,” he added.