Instruct banks to give customers 3-month loan repayment holiday – Mahama to BoG

The Bank of Ghana must come to some agreement with the various commercial banks so that they put a three-month moratorium on all loan repayments as the country battles COVID-19, former President John Mahama has suggested.

Ghana has, so far, recorded eight deaths from the six hundred and thirty-six cases confirmed in the country.

At a ceremony to present rice, oil and canned fish to the Ga Traditional Council, the Tema Traditional Council, the Kpone Traditional Council, the Awutu Senya Traditional Council, the Asanteman Council, the Council of Zongo Chiefs in both Accra and Kumasi and the umbrella bodies of faith-based organisations and people living with disability, for onward distribution to some twenty thousand households in the locked-down areas of Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Kasoa, the flag bearer of the NDC said though the government has instituted several measures to lessen the economic burden on Ghanaians as a result of the lockdown, it was important for the Bank of Ghana to sit with the various banks to offer customers some reprieve.

“A further measure, which would go a long way to cushion SMEs and individual Ghanaian families, would be for the Bank of Ghana to open a dialogue with the banks and financial institutions to offer a 3-month moratorium on payment of debts to borrowers”, the former President proposed.

“I understand one bank has already voluntarily announced such a concession.

“This will be helpful at a time many Ghanaian businesses are shut and breadwinners of families have had to stay at home and cannot earn an income”, he added.

Republic Bank Ghana was the first bank to give a six-month loan repayment holiday to its customers when the virus broke out in Ghana. A few banks followed suit with other packages.