Government, financial institutions; Great partners in nation building

It is no secret that no government can develop a nation without a solid financial sector.


Financial Institutions have been a bedrock to the advancement of most of government’s agenda of building a better nation. When it comes to pre-financing infrastructural developments, advancing funds in the form of loans to companies and the other merchandising sectors of the economy, these financial institutions have been linchpins in that regard.

However, some decisions by the government and the general global economic environment have had some positive and negative impact on this sector.


Let’s take a look at some of the positives;

1. Some government regulations in the past have allowed traditional banks, rural banks and even some microfinance institutions to have some common platforms where customers of the respective institutions could do banking or have their transactions carried out among the various banks.

The introduction of the mobile money platform has allowed more customers to deposit and withdraw from their various accounts at anywhere and any time of the day.


Funds are moved in and out easily and payment of goods have become way simpler than it was some years back.

2. Through the regulatory body(Bank of Ghana), these financial institutions are able to charge competitive lending rates on loans given to corporate bodies and individuals for their businesses.

This has helped developed companies and individual businesses whiles these financial institutions make some good profits to ensure the continuous running of the business.

However, the negative effects of some of the governmental decisions vis-a-vis the global economic impact is so obvious.

INFLATION
The government’s inability to control inflation has pushed most people to spending almost all their income on goods and services,thus saving less and denying these financial institutions some funds with which they could do business with.

DELINQUENT LOANS
Loans that have been disbursed to private companies, individuals and even some government agencies are not being paid, thus increasing the delinquency rates and the bad debts of most of these institutions.