By Jibril Abdul Mumuni
Accra, Jan. 31, GNA – The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has urged commercial banks to reduce lending rates in line with the Bank of Ghana’s cut in the Monetary Policy Rate.
The Chamber said high lending rates continued to constrain private sector growth despite the central bank’s sustained efforts to ease monetary conditions.
A statement signed by Mr Stephane Miezan, President of the GNCCI, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday, welcomed the Bank of Ghana’s decision to reduce the Monetary Policy Rate from 18 per cent to 15.5 per cent.
It said the rate had declined cumulatively by 11.5 percentage points between January 2025 and January 2026, describing the development as a positive and timely policy intervention to support business recovery.
The Chamber expressed concern, however, that commercial bank lending rates remained relatively high, making financing costly for both large businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises.
According to the Chamber, bank-specific charges, including risk premiums, operating costs, profit margins, processing fees and commitment charges, continued to add an estimated four to five percentage points to the policy rate.
“This level of financing cost is prohibitively high for both Large Businesses and SMEs,” the statement said.
The GNCCI, therefore, called on commercial banks to complement the central bank’s actions by reducing non-interest charges to improve the transmission of monetary easing to borrowers.
It also encouraged banks to adopt risk-sharing mechanisms and credit enhancement frameworks to lower lending risks and borrowing costs for productive sectors of the economy.
The statement said a reduction in the cost of credit would support sustainable credit expansion, reduce non-performing loans and boost investment, thereby strengthening private sector-led growth.
The Chamber commended the Government, the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana for prudent macroeconomic management and reaffirmed its commitment to engage policymakers to promote an enabling business environment.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey