Be wary of ‘abnormal’ interest rates - GRA boss

The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has urged the public to be wary of investment plans, which promise more than three per cent monthly returns because they are abnormal.

Emmanuel Kofi Nti said as a former Bank Examiner and with his background in the financial sector, there was no investment that could genuinely offer an investor more than two or three per cent interest rate per month on investments.

He was addressing the 11th Annual General Meeting of the GRA Co-operative Credit Union (GRACCU) held in Accra last Friday, on the theme: “Credit Union and Technological Age.”

He said the interest rates offered by the banks should guide individual investors on anything abnormal, stressing although the banks offered loans to people to prosper, they were mindful of making profits.

Mr Godwin Aaron Monyo, the Board Chairman for GRACCU, said the benefits from its Guaranteed Deposit Accounts (GDA) had been encouraging for members over the past couple of years.

The high yielding investment plan was aimed at helping members and their immediate families to undertake development projects without taking burdensome loans elsewhere.

“The product is serving as a retirement plan for the staff of GRA in general, and that of Controller Accountant General Department, who are on our roll,” he said.

He said it would use technology to improve upon its services and attract more customers.

Mr Monyo said, in order to achieve the union’s objective, it had signed an agreement with the Zenith Bank under the Ghana Interbank Payment Supplement System for the Bank to collect payments on its behalf and manage the GDA savings through the direct debit system.

By this arrangement, members can sign onto its products and also make payments directly from the banks without necessarily passing through the payroll.

Emmanuel Coffie, the Deputy General Manager of Ghana Co-operative Credit Unions Association, (CUA) urged members to cultivate the habit of savings for a brighter tomorrow and to solve some of their poverty-related issues.