First Rural Credit Union Inaugurated

From Stephen Kwabena Effah, Agona Nyakrom
Wednesday, 22 November 2006 (Page 9)

The first of 20 rural credit unions to be established throughout the country to support the mobilisation of rural savings was opened at Agona Nyakrom in the Central Region on Friday.

The ¢510 million sponsored initiative by the Barclays Bank of Ghana in partnership with the Ghana Co-Operative Credit Unions Association, is part of the bank’s micro banking programme launched last year.

Under the initiative, the bank will support the unions by funding the first set of deposit boxes for the people, provide office spaces for the unions and pay a credit manager for two years.

The Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, in a speech read on his behalf said that government, under the Millennium Challenge Account, allocated 20 million dollars to rural and community banks for on-lending to micro, small and medium enterprises.

He noted that government has also secured 25 million dollars from its development partners to support small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) to get access to credit at a cheaper cost.

Mr.Baah Wiredu said the bane of the development of the micro and SMEs is access to finance, adding "I therefore see this partnership as key to providing a lot more access to funds for our micro and SMEs".

The Managing Director of Barclays Ghana, Mrs.Margaret Mwanakatwe, noted that mobilization of rural savings has been one of the key challenges facing the finance sector, adding that credit unions are best placed to perform that function.

She said it was as for this reason that Barclays introduced the Micro banking policy to work with and through financial intermediaries to bring banking services and product to the doorstep of most petty traders and market women.

"Since February when we begun working with Susu Collectors in Accra and Kumasi, we have mobilized ¢18 billion in deposits and given out ¢1.5 billion as loans", she added.

The Chairman of the Board of Ghana Co-Operative Associations, Robert Ngissah, said credit unions exist not completely for profit but to provide a safe, convenient place for members to save money and get loans and other financial services at affordable rates.