The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has raised concerns over what the Union says is persistent high lending rates charged by commercial banks, despite a reduction in the policy rate.
GUTA says lending rates hovering between 22 and 24 percent remain excessive and do not reflect the current policy rate set by the Bank of Ghana.
GUTA noted that commercial banks must set their lending rates in correspondence with the policy rate.
“Just yesterday, the policy rate which used to be 15.5% has been slashed and it is currently at 14% even though we know that the commercial banks as far as lending rates are concerned are not responding very well to the lending rate. Because once policy rate is going down, we expect a corresponding decrease in the lending rate.
“I spoke to some commercial banks this morning to find out from them their lending rate and some are doing between 22% to 24% which I think it is not the best,” he stated.
Speaking during an engagement with the Minority Caucus on Thursday, March 19, GUTA President, Clement Boateng called on the central bank to take decisive steps to ensure commercial banks reduce their lending rates.
“Once policy rate keeps coming down, I expect Bank of Ghana as the regulator to impress upon the commercial banks to also reduce their lending rate so that the business community can also borrow and create employment for the youth,” he added.
