Reduce corporate tax for rural, community banks — Association of Rural Banks appeals to government
The Association of Rural Banks (ARB) has appealed to the government to consider a reduction in the corporate tax for the rural and community banks in the country to enable them to perform their corporate social responsibility (CSR) in their catchment areas.
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According to the Management of ARB, rural and community banks usually had CSR in their various operational and catchment areas that they were mandated to perform but an increment of corporate tax of eight (8) per cent to 25 per cent had affected the performance of the CSR of the rural and community banks seriously and, therefore, needed to be considered by the government.
The Executive Director, ARB, Mrs Comfort Owusu, made the appeal at the 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Manya Krobo Rural Bank PLC at Odumase-Krobo in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region on Saturday, December 16, 2023.
The Manya Krobo Rural Bank PLC was established in 1978 as a community bank. Currently, it has branches at Akuse, Somanya, Ashaiman, Ashyie, Madina and Abanse, and the Head Office, near Odumase-Krobo.
Retiring directors
The current Directors of the bank, namely Mrs Mercy Mamle Tetteh (Chairperson), Benjamin Tetteh Apo (Vice Chairperson) and Dr Desmond Afutu Nartey, who served the bank for 21, 28, and 18 years respectively retired at the AGM.
They were replaced by a Senior Assistant Registrar at University of Environment and Sustainable Development at Somanya, Dr Padikor Madjitey; a Cluster Manager at Consolidated Bank, Augustus Lartey Djabatey, and a Senior Compliance Manager for the Corporate and Investment and Affiliates of Stanbic Bank, Barbara Ama Dede Okai Tettey.
Other Board members present included Ebenezer Akumatey, (Head, Banking Operations), Edward Nartey Tetteh, Richard Nartey, Monica Padi, Ernest Kpogli and Raphael Kwame Tawiah, among others.
She, however, lauded the Manya Krobo Rural Bank PLC for its good CSR to its catchment areas, as well as adherence to governance directives by the Bank of Ghana despite the financial challenges facing rural and community banks in the country of late, stressing “the bank is to meet the needs of its catchment areas and the communities and you are doing exactly that’’.
“The Association of Rural Banks are pleading with the government once again to, as a matter of serious consideration, reduce the corporate tax so that the banks can be more responsible to increase their CSR more to the communities.
“Manya Krobo Rural Bank is doing very well in terms of its CSR and I believe that if the tax rate had been reduced or had come down, the bank, as well as others, would have done better,” Mrs Owusu emphasised.
The executive director of ARB pleaded with the shareholders to increase their shares in the bank for more dividends, saying: “These are seeds that you are sowing not only for yourselves but for other generations as well”.
Dividend
The outgoing Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Mrs Tetteh, in her report, declared a dividend of GH₵969, 185.00 paid to shareholders in 2022.
In the same vein, as part of the bank’s CSR, the bank spent GH₵ 203, 077.00 under the bank’s continuous dedication to supporting its stakeholders in times of need. T
hese donations went to Manya Krobo Traditional Council, Yilo Krobo Senior High School in Somanya in respect of the National Science and Mathematics Quiz, scholarships to students of Odumase Nursing and Midwifery Training School and a donation to Yilo Krobo Traditional Council, among others.
