Welfare Officer of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA), Benjamin Yeboah has appealed to commercial banks in the country to reduce their lending rates to reasonable amounts.
He noted that Ghanaians, especially those belonging to Trade Unions are avoiding these banks and looking for alternative loan facilities because of their high lending rates.
Speaking in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show aired on e.TVGhana and Happy98.9FM, Benjamin said, “We want the commercial banks to make sure their lending rates are lowered to reasonable amounts. People are now running away from the commercial banks because of their high lending rates”.
According to him, the only excuse of these banks for such high rates is the increasing element of “risks”.
He believes if the banks keep increasing their lending rates with the excuse of high risks, “then they’ll lose their customers by close of the year. How can you give a loan with so much interest to burden your customers?
Doing that means you’re pushing away your customers”.
The Welfare Officer for GUTA advised banks to do their due deligence before giving out loans to their customers rather than making the genuine ones bear the burden of loan defaulters.
Benjamin disclosed that the government introducing stimulus packages to support traders survive the COVID-19 pandemic helped them a lot, and wishes government sets up another solely for them.
GUTA believes with this alternative, commercial banks will be forced to lower their rates and give Ghanaians
Interest rates in Ghana according to the Bank of Ghana is currently pegged at 13.57%.
By: Joel Sanco