Development Bank Ghana (DBG), within the first three (3) months of its operations, has disbursed a little over GHS 245m to its partner banks for onward lending to SMEs in the country.
Within the next six (6) to twelve (12) months, it looks to further disburse some GHS 1bn of medium to long term capital to SMEs through its partner banks.
The disclosure of the amount disbursed by the bank since it commenced operations was made by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DBG, Kwamina Duker in an interview with norvanreports on Thursday, October 6.
“I think to date we have lent about GHS 245 million and I think there were two purposes for that. One of the reasons, was to flush out the pipes and to make sure that our initial systems are working.
“And in terms of our pipeline, we would probably have 3x or 4x of that. So probably about another GHS 1bn of that which we hope to disperse within the next six to twelve months,” he told norvanreports.
The DBG has mapped out plans to disburse $600 million worth of credit facilities to small businesses over a 2-year period.
Loans to be given out to SMEs by DBG would have maturity dates of 3 to 15 years. The DBG is hoping to increase the proportion of loans available for small businesses from 9% to 15% between now and 2024.
Meanwhile, the DBG together with the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) have signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support SMEs in the country.
The tripartite agreement between AGI, GSE and DBG
The tripartite agreement was signed between the three institutions during a capacity building workshop held for members of the AGI.
The agreement forms part of DBG’s mandate of building capacity and empowering banks and entrepreneurs through financial innovation and other advisory services to strengthen the ecosystem in which businesses operate.
Speaking at the signing of the tripartite agreement, Deputy CEO of DBG, Michael Mensah-Baah stated that, “The DBG’s primary objective is to ensure that SMEs are in a better position to receive and use funds from participating financial institutions (PFIs).
“A critical role of DBG, therefore, is to provide long-term funding to banks to engage in partnerships with institutions like AGI and GSE to ensure the empowerment of the private sector for growth.”
Also speaking at the event, was Deputy Managing Director of the GSE, Ms Abena Amoah who averred the GSE, DBG and AGI share the same ambition of supporting Ghanaian SMEs to become giants in their industries by making patient capital available to them to expand their businesses.
“This tripartite MoU represents a significant step in catalyzing the growth of our SMEs by providing access to much-needed capital.
“The Ghana Alternative Market was specifically set up by the GSE to support SMEs to build sustainable businesses. The GSE is committed to all the action plans outlined in the MoU,” she added.