Implore banks to respond to policy rate decisions – Spare Parts Dealers tell government

The Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association says it expects the continuing government to implore commercial banks to respond inadvertently to the monetary policy rate decisions by the central bank.

According to Co-Chairman of the Association, Clement Boateng, as the policy rate is maintained, banks do not respond to it by way of also decreasing their interest rate.

Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb on Monday December 14, Boateng explained, “As we’re about into the next year, we expect government to hold talks with banks so they could give us loans at very moderate interest rates so we can inject these soft loans into our businesses to help them expand and create more employment”

“We also expect government to put in place measures that will sustain our exchange rate regime because if we look at this year for instance, the exchange rate has not performed badly at all and this needs to be sustained to allow the local currency [Cedi] to have some sustainability against other major trading currencies,” he added.

In November this year, the central bank kept the monetary policy rate unchanged at 14.5 percent for a fifth consecutive time.

The decision, according to Governor of the Bank of Ghana Dr Ernest Addison is attributed to growth indicators improving and reserve buffers remaining strong.

The policy rate of the central bank is of key interest to businesses as it influences the interest rate on loans and determines the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks.