We’re working to lower interest rates – Ofori-Atta

The government of Ghana is working around the clock to further lower interest rates in the country in order to assist businesses to grow, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has said.

He told Parliament on Wednesday, 13 November 2019 during the presentation of the 2020 budget statement that there are a few structural defects in the financial system in Ghana that are making it difficult for the rates to further drop.

But the government is working to fix those problems, he said.

He said the “average bank lending rate” has “fallen significantly from 31.7 per cent in 2016 to 24 per cent in 2019 but we have more to do”.

“Lending rates are still high, improvement in macroeconomic environments alone could not bring interest rates down; there are many other structural factors in our financial system that are causing high interest rates.

“In addition to sustaining macroeconomic stability, we are actively working to remove these structural bottlenecks to support lower interest rates.”