272 Financial institutions in distress – BoG

The Bank of Ghana (BOG) says about 705,396 depositors of distressed or collapsed microfinance institutions (MFIs) and Rural and Community banks (RCBs) are at risk of losing more than 740 million cedis.

The amount represents deposits currently locked up in the 272 RCBs and MFIs which were either in distress or had folded up.

The Governor of BOG, Dr. Ernest Addison, said this at a media briefing in Accra.

In terms of significance, the deposits under distress form 8.81 percent and 52.49 percent of industry total deposits of the Rural and Community banks and Microfinance institutions.

Giving a breakdown of the figures, Dr. Addison said of the 566 licensed MFIs in 2018, 211 are active but distressed or folded up.

Also out of the 141 RCBs, 37 are active but distressed or folded up.

In total it is estimated that 272 out of the 707 institutions in the sub-sector representing 38.5 percent are at risk.

Source: GRAPHIC