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James Asare-Adjei, AGI President

Lending rate: Sierra-Leone, Gambia far better than Ghana - AGI

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has decried what it says is the high cost of borrowing in the country.

According to the President of the association, Mr James Asare-Adjei, the current situation was undermining business confidence in the country.

He was speaking at the Graphic Business/Fidelity Bank Enonomic Dialogue series, which was held on the theme,”The Economy and Prospects for Business Confidence” in Accra Thursday.

Mr Asare-Adjei noted that lending rates in Ghana average 33.9%, far below the sub-regional average of about 20%.

He pointed out that the lending rates in countries such as Sierra-Leone (19.4%) and Gambia (28.5%) were lower than the prevailing rate in Ghana.

“The question is: ‘Why is Ghana so different?'" he said.

According to Mr Asare-Adjei, businesses could also not take advantage of cheap lending rates abroad because of the instability of the cedi.

He said taxes such as the 17.5% Special Petroleum Levy and the Special Import Levy had compounded the woes of many businesses.

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