Budget to unveil initiatives to support private sector

Vice President Amissah-Arthur with
Diana Layfield(middle) and other Stanchart executives
in a group photo after the meeting

By Edmund Mingle

The government will unveil a number of initiatives, in the next budget to support the private sector, says Vice President, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur.

“We will request cooperation and partnership of the financial institutions in undertaking these initiatives,” he said, without giving details of the initiatives.

The Vice President made the call during a meeting with executives of Standard Chartered Bank, led by Diana Layfield, Standchart’s Regional Chief Executive Officer for Africa, at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday.

He said there was a need to have the low inflation rate in the country translated into jobs and business growth.

The Vice President therefore called for increased support from financial institutions towards improving access to credit to aid effective business growth across the country.

He said partnering the government in that regard would also ensure that the cost of credit was reduced to enable small scale businesses to secure the needed support to develop for the benefit of the economy.

In that regard, he charged Standard Chartered Bank, and local banks to spearhead the reduction in cost of credit provided for the SMEs.

He lauded the relations between the government and Stanchart, and expressed optimistic that more dividends would accrue from the partnership for the benefits of the local economy.

Mrs. Layfield, for her part commended Ghana for the steady economic growth over the years, saying the bank was impressed about the gains.

She is in Accra for the bank’s regional meeting, and according to her, the choice of Ghana for the meeting reflects the bank’s confidence in the Ghanaian economy.

She said the bank was impressed about profile of Ghana’s economic prospects, and declared the bank’s intention to increase its investment in Ghana.

“Ghana’s economic reforms are hugely encouraging for the bank,” she said, and assured the government of more collaboration.

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