The President said “it will not make sense” for his government to even attempt to sabotage the efforts of local banks.
President Akufo-Addo has denied claims that his government is into a deliberate ploy to collapse all indigenous banks in the country.
According to him, the collapse of some seven local banks in the last one year was necessary to sanitise and strengthen the banking sector.
READ ALSO: Boycott: Why Adongo stormed out of Parliamentary probe on collapsed banks
The President believes “it will not make sense” for his government to even attempt to sabotage the efforts of local banks.
Last year, the UT Bank and Capital Bank were liquidated by the Central Bank after both banks failed to meet the required standards in the sector.
Two months ago, the Bank of Ghana merged five other indigenous banks to form the Consolidated Bank of Ghana (CBG).
The banks are Beige Bank, Sovereign Bank, Construction Bank, uniBank, and Royal Bank.
Some have since accused that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) of deliberately collapsing indigenous banks in the country.
However, speaking on the recent shake-up in the banking sector, President Akufo-Ado said it does not make sense to deliberately collapse local banks.
He said it was worrying to note that the actions of the failed indigenous banks had cost the country some GH¢ 8 billion.
READ ALSO: Collapsed Banks: uniBank shareholders sued for GHc5.7 billion debt left
“We are trying to make sure that the banking sector of our country has strong indigenous banks which can compete successfully with these foreign-owned banks. It is not a process to eliminate indigenous banks. It will not make sense to do that at all….I am a politician, I want the votes, but I think that I’m required first of all to do what I consider right for our people than worry myself about the impact of it on my political support,” he said whiles addressing the Ghanaian community in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali on Thursday.
The President explained that the decision of the Central Bank to take over these struggling local banks is geared towards protecting other indigenous banks.
According to him, government wants to avoid a situation where foreign banks become dominant without any local bank to also compete.
“We cannot have a situation where the dominant banks in our country are all foreign banks. It is very dangerous for our future if we allow that to happen. But if our own indigenous banks are performing poorly, at the end of the day, we do not take care, one by one, they will all go under,” President Akufo- Addo added.