The Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry has welcomed moves by the government to establish the Development Bank Ghana.
In an interview with Citi Business News, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Construction Industry, Emmanuel Cherry, stated that the bank will be key to the development of the construction industry
“This has been one of our clarion calls to the presidency and today, we are so proud to hear that the government has secured a loan facility for the establishment of this bank. We know that in this country, infrastructure development is a capital-intensive venture which needs long-term funding to tackle it vigorously. Therefore, with the introduction of the Development Bank Ghana, a lot of infrastructural projects will see the light of day.”
The Ministry of Finance and the European Investment Bank on the 19th of May this year signed an agreement for the provision of a €170 million facility for the establishment of a new national bank, the Development Bank Ghana (DBG).The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, stated that the bank is a major part of the GHS100 billion CARES ‘Obaatampa’ programme aimed at dealing with the devastating economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bank, when established, will focus on agriculture, affordable housing and ICT, among other things.
The minister justified the move stating that the bank will also help address important constraints in the country’s financial system, including the lack of long-term funding, and the lack of adequate funding to the productive sectors of the economy.
The Chamber had earlier called for the creation of a construction bank to finance projects in the sector.
Mr Cherry stated that “the reason why the Chamber is so passionate about this is that if you study most of our releases, our engagements with the presidency, through the ministries and what have you, you’d realize that one of our passionate calls happens to be that government should arrange with or set aside some of the commercial banks for construction project funding with more flexible repayment terms, with at least a one-year moratorium or alternatively reinstate mobilisation payments for construction on all government projects.”
