GH¢1.5bn bailout announcement excludes BOG-licensed institutions – Dr. Addison

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, has clarified that the recent bailout announcement by the Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, covers only customers of institutions licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

At a town hall meeting in London last month, Dr. Adams disclosed that President Nana Akufo-Addo had directed him to release an amount of Gh¢1.5 billion out of budgeted funds of Gh¢4 billion to bail out customers of failed financial institutions.

But, responding to a question at Monday’s joint press conference by the Ministry, the IMF, and the BoG, Dr. Addison noted that funds are yet to be provided by the government to settle customers of challenged institutions under his remit, which includes banks, savings and loans, finance houses, and microfinance.

“I believe what the Minister is talking about [in respect of the Gh¢1.5 billion bailout] are the SEC-regulated institutions that have been waiting for the bailout.

“But in addition to the SEC-regulated institutions, there are SDIs; these are savings and loans, microfinances, and finance houses, which are also in trouble.”

“The long and short of it is that the resources are not yet available, and as soon as the resources are made available, we would have to deal with depositors [who] are in that segment of the financial sector,” Governor Addison said.

Dr. Adam, for his part, stressed that the bailout package is being provided on humanitarian grounds, asserting that “the government does not accept liability for the investment decisions of individuals and corporate entities.”