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The Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB), has contributed two million Ghana Cedis towards the construction of the COVID-19 Infectious Disease and Isolation Facility at the Ga East Municipality Hospital.
The donation for the 100-bed facility, was done under the auspices of the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund, the sponsor of the project.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo delivered the keynote address at the virtual groundbreaking ceremony for the project, estimated at 3.5 million dollars.
A statement issued by GAB, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Saturday, said it was committed to contributing its bid to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the respiratory disease.
Already, it said, GAB had set up a GHS10 million COVID-19 Response Fund, from which it had made contributions to aid some frontline bodies in the COVID-19 fight.
It has also negotiated with the Bank of Ghana, Ministry of Finance and member banks to set up a GHS 3 billion loan facility to assist pharmaceutical companies.
GAB has provided food to a segment of the head porters (Kayayei) within the Accra Metropolis.
It is supporting the ‘Feed the Kayayee Project’ with GHC 300,000.00 to provide 5,000 meals for 10 days to vulnerable groups.
It has also introduced some financial measures to aid its clients whose businesses have been affected by the global pandemic.
As part of these, the Association agreed to a general 200 basis points interest rate cut on all existing local currency-denominated loans and for all new loans to be sanctioned by member banks.
The Ghana Association of Bankers is the country's leading mouthpiece for the universal banking sector, currently representing the interests of 23- member banks, as well as the ARB Apex Bank, the umbrella bank for the Rural & Community Banks in Ghana.
