Dr. Richmond Atuahene
Dr. Richmond Atuahene, a banking consultant, has commended French Bank Societe Generale for its decision to withdraw from the Ghanaian market, describing it as a prudent business move.
Societe Generale, having operated in Ghana for two decades, has decided to exit the country, alongside similar exits from Tunisia and Cameroon.
According to Dr Atuahene, the move by Societe Generale may prompt other banks to follow suit, attributing the trend to the government’s failure to create a conducive business environment for financial institutions.
He said the exit of multinational companies from Ghana will tend to hurt the economy and worsen the unemployment rates of the country.
“It is going to make our unemployment situation worse and you know, SG [Societe Generale]has been in the country for twenty years and they have participated in the cocoa syndication and some other businesses but now they are going.
“It means that they are no more there with the cocoa syndication and they are going with their taxes and so we are not going to get corporate taxes from them and so it will affect our fiscal situation.”
Furthermore, Dr. Atuahene cautioned that the departure of multinational corporations like Societe Generale signals a lack of substantial economic progress, contrary to assertions made by institutions like the World Bank and IMF.
“With all the literature that the World Bank and IMF, especially the Bretton Woods institutions saying the economy is turning around, these international banks have strong research departments and they have studied the variables that make economic indications very stable and they have seen it and they know it is not going to happen today or tomorrow. So the earlier they pack their bags, the better for them.”