Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson told banks on Friday, September 25, that the government is tightening its own domestic financing footprint and wants the banking sector to step up lending to businesses that drive production, exports, manufacturing and job creation.
Speaking on behalf of the minister, Director of the Financial Sector Division at the Ministry of Finance, Louis Kwame Amo, urged banks to play a greater role in financing enterprises that are central to Ghana’s productive economy.
He said that while macro‑economic stability remains important, the focus must now shift toward transforming the economy into a more productive, competitive, export‑oriented, and increasingly private‑investment‑driven system. “Stability itself is not the destination. Stability is the platform. Transformation is the destination,” he said at the commissioning of the new Absa Bank Ghana head office.
According to Amo, the banking industry will be key to the New Economy programme, which seeks to consolidate the gains from macro‑stabilisation while working with stakeholders to strengthen productive sectors.
He urged banks to direct more credit toward businesses involved in manufacturing, exports, agricultural processing, technology and job creation, adding that “we need more credit to go to businesses that produce, businesses that export, businesses that manufacture, businesses that employ young people, businesses that process what we grow here in Ghana, businesses investing in technology and businesses building Ghana’s new economy.”
The Finance Minister’s appeal follows the government’s broader strategy to reduce its reliance on domestic financing and create space for private‑sector growth. Banks are now being asked to take on a larger share of that responsibility.
