Minister charges Ghana Exim Bank Board to drive export expansion agenda
The Minister of State for Finance, Mr Charles Adu Boahene has inaugurated the Board of Directors of the Ghana Exim Bank with a call on members to take strategic steps to drive the country’s export expansion agenda.
He urged the Board to ensure that Ghana Exim collaborate with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to build SME capacity, increase access to international markets and create more employment for the youth.
To this end, the Ministry of Finance would expect the GhanaExim to identify Ghanaian manufacturers with the potential to export; develop strategies to attract them and assist manufacturers to obtain long term financing support, specifically for export markets; and thereby boosting Ghana’s export base and foreign exchange earning capacity.
“Thankfully, Ghana Exim Bank is located in the same premises as the AfCFTA secretariat and with such proximity, we expect constructive collaboration between the two institutions towards creating funding programmes that will benefit SMEs to lead the export of high-quality Ghanaian products and services to other African countries,” he said.
Ghana Exim Bank has been the Primary Financing Institution for the President’s Accelerated Industrialization Programme – One-District-One-Factory, and had approved a total of GHC2.1 billion in loan facilities for 122 projects between March 2017 and December 2020.
To build on this success, the Minister said the government was currently in the process of implementing policy actions through various institutions to build an ecosystem that would provide support and finance to at least 100 SMEs to create jobs for the youth and citizenry in line with Phase II of the Ghana CARES Programme.
He said the Financial Sector Division of the Ministry of Finance was tasked to develop a performance framework for these institutions so that their performances could be monitored and reported to the Minister of Finance on a regular basis.
Mr Adu Boahene said the establishment of the Development Bank Ghana opened a new opportunity for GhanaExim to build strategic partnerships with the Development Bank for financing and rolling out innovative pipeline projects that would drive Ghana’s import substitution initiatives and export promotion programmes for the realization of the President’s vision of a “Ghana Beyond Aid” and the Ghana CARES Programmme.
“It is our hope that with the new board in place and with support from the Development Bank, we will continue to see growth in private sector advances as we seek to revamp our economy,” he said.
On his part, the Board Chairman Mr Kwadwo Boateng Genfi said the members would make the institution one of the main driving forces behind the development of the Ghanaian economy in line with the President’s industrial transformation agenda.
“Therefore, my colleagues and I will work effectively together in order to facilitate the well-being of Ghana Exim Bank to ensure that we achieve the objectives and the purpose for which the institution was established.”
He pledged to ensure that all GEXIM-funded projects will be fully completed to play their expected roles in the industrialization drive as envisioned by the President.
Source: GNA