General News of Thursday, 7 July 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-07-07'Fire him!' - Kofi Amoah wants Ofori-Atta sacked for 'killing native banks'
Ken Ofori-Atta (left) and Dr. Kofi Amoah alias Citizen Kofi
Economist and businessman, Dr. Kofi Amoah, has joined calls for Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to be fired.
He premised his call on an accusation that Ofori-Atta had "killed several 'native' banks instead of working to save them.
Dr. Amoah said Ghana's capital adequacy ratio had slumped to the worst in Africa because of decisions
Read full articlethat Ofori-Atta took.
"The Finance Minister killed several ‘native’ banks, built over many years by CITIZENS. He could’ve used nationalistic considerations and saved these banks.
"Capital Adequacy ratio of Ghana under his watch is the worst in Africa; he killed ‘native’ banks using this ratio of the banks. Fire him!" he stated in a tweet dated July 6.
In recent times Ofori-Atta has come under fire by persons calling for his sacking after government opted to go to the International Monetary Fund with an economic rescue programme.
The Minister had previously insisted that under no circumstance will government approach the Washington-based lender despite the impact of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.
About Ghana's banking sector cleanup
A number of indigenous banks fell victim to the banking sector cleanup that occurred between August 2017 and January 2020 when a number of banks were collapsed with others being merged.
This, according to government, was to strengthen the banking sector. The cleanup according to the government cost GH¢11.7 billion as cited in the 2020 budget statement.
The clean-up saw a reduction in the number of banks from 34 to 23 currently, whilst 347 micro-finance institutions, 15 savings and loans, and 8 finance houses had their licenses revoked.
Those affected included UT Bank, Capital Bank, Sovereign Bank, Beige Bank, Premium Bank, The Royal Bank, Heritage Bank, Construction Bank, and UniBank.
Despite the GHC11.7billion figure in the budget, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta during a press briefing on Thursday, March 24, 2022, said, the clean-up exercise cost government GH¢25billion.
