Gomoa Assin bank disburses 2.3 billion to women groups

Gomoa Ekwamkrom, C/R, Aug 20, GNA- The Eastern Gomoa Assin Rural Bank with its headquarters at Gomoa Dominase has disbursed 2.3 billion cedis to women groups in its catchment areas to expand their businesses. The assistance fell under the micro-finance programme adopted by the bank in line with the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy, aimed at improving the living conditions of women.

Mr Mobashir Ibrahim, Manager of the Bank who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at Ekwamkrom, near Agona Swedru said the scheme had been operated successfully due to effective managerial mechanism of the bank.

He said refund of loans had been encouraging since it was being done on daily basis, adding that each woman received between one million cedis and 1.5 million cedis.

The Manager stressed that the bank had also extended the credit facility to vegetable farmers at the Gomoa Dominase on pilot basis, adding that about 50 million cedis had been committed into the programme to encourage more youth to enter into farming.

The Manager said the bank has launched new product to support men who wanted to do business in the area.

He stated that the product was designed to help men who did not have access to credit facility to promote their businesses. Mr Ibrahim advised the women who had benefited from the DANIDA Fund to pay back for others to enjoy the scheme.

He appealed to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and NGOs to extend the credit facility to the Eastern Gomoa Assin Rural Bank to enable the management to cover more women whose applications had not been considered due to inadequate funds.