Frank Annoh Dompreh, the Member of Parliament for Nsawam/Adoagyiri and Majority Chief Whip has vehemently refuted allegations made by the minority regarding the financial state of the National Investment Bank (NIB). He firmly stated that NIB is not bankrupt and clarified the current situation.
The minority had previously accused NIB of being in dire financial straits and claimed it was being managed remotely from Canada.
However, Mr. Annoh Dompreh set the record straight, revealing critical insights into the bank’s operations.
One of the major issues he highlighted was the high concentration of loans within the construction sector, which had been inherited by the current management from the erstwhile NDC government.
According to Mr. Dompreh, over 90% of NIB’s loan portfolio was directed towards construction projects, with a significant amount, over 500 million, placed in non-banking financial institutions.
Mr. Dompreh pointed out that NIB had not undergone a financial audit since 2017 and 2018, raising concerns about the accuracy of the bank’s financial statements.
He also drew attention to substantial losses attributed to foreign exchange balance sheet mismatches, resulting in significant daily revaluation losses.
The MP further disclosed that NIB was grappling with an international lawsuit involving Elard International, which was an additional challenge inherited by the current management team.
In response to these inherited issues, Mr. Dompreh assured the public that the current management and board of NIB were actively working to rectify the situation.
He said the necessary steps have been taken to ensure the bank’s financial statements were audited from 2017 to date. After a thorough audit, it was determined that NIB required a recapitalization of 2.2 billion Ghana Cedis to stabilize the bank’s financial position.
Addressing concerns of possible privatization or merger, Mr. Dompreh made it clear that the government had no intentions of selling NIB or merging it with the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).
While acknowledging that the bank faced financial challenges, he emphasized that it was not bankrupt and that measures were being put in place to secure its future stability.