THE Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Millison Narh, has asked financial institutions to design products and services that will help transform the agricultural sector.
This, he said would lead to growth and wealth in the economies of West African countries.
Mr Narh made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop organised by African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA) in Accra, today.
He stated that one of the bedrock for achieving sustainable economic growth and development in any economy is the existence of a vibrant banking and financial sector.
He said that would ensure effective and efficient financial intermediation.
“The financial system acts as a catalyst for initiating and sustaining economic growth, development and integration”, he said.
Mr Narh said access to credit had consistently been identified as one of the key element necessary to increase economic capital and development.
He explained that the largest constraint to the development of the agricultural sector was the lack of a long-term credit, adding that a world bank study proved that the difficulty of accessing affordable finance was one of the main factors holding back the African continent.
The two-day workshop which is on the theme:” Rural Finance Intermediation for Growth and Wealth Creation in Africa” is to create a platform for member countries to discuss ways of enhancing the role and effectiveness of financial service providers in rural agricultural.
The workshop was also to deliberate on bridging the existence financial gaps for small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), risk management and regulatory issues in Africa.
The Chairman of AFRACA, Mr Edmund Mkwawa, said developing the agricultural sector in Africa should not lie on the shoulders of the sector ministers alone but should be a collective responsibility for all.
He, therefore, called on financial institutions to support the sector in terms of loans to accelerate the needed growth of the sector.
Mr Mkwawa also called on the delegates to make contributions that would provide useful insights into the many challenges faced by the sector.
For his part, the first Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Gambia, Mr Basiru Njai, said the most empirical studies revealed that limited access and high costs of finance were key obstacles to economic growth and development in Africa.
He advised that to deepen the financial sector and ensure access to loans and credit, it was important to sustain a benign macroeconomic environment.
No comments:
Post a Comment