The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama, has been summoned by Parliament to brief the House on the banking sector clean-up exercise that happened in 2017.
The governor is expected to appear in Parliament next week.
In 2017, the Ghanaian government, led by the former Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, initiated a reform of the banking sector.
This overhaul resulted in the number of banks being reduced from 34 to 23. Additionally, 347 microfinance institutions, 15 savings and loans companies, and eight finance houses had their licenses revoked due to various corporate governance issues.
The cost of this intervention by the state, not including interest payments, was estimated at GH¢16.4 billion from 2017 to 2019.
However, the government later reported that the total expenditure on the banking sector clean-up reached approximately GH¢21 billion in 2020.
Several financial institutions that were affected by the license revocations have challenged the government’s decision in court, and these legal proceedings are ongoing.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
