The banking sector is still profitable - BoG

He made this statement at the 97th Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) announcement which maintained the country’s MPR at 14.5 percent.

Addressing the press, Dr Ernest Addison said asset quality of the financial intermediaries has improved.

“The Financial Soundness Indicators and the Banking Sector Stability Index remain in high positive territories. The industry’s CAR of 20.0 percent as at end October 2020 remains well above the regulatory minimum threshold,” he said.

On the industry’s Capital Adequacy Ratio, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) boss said, “the industry’s CAR of 20.0 percent as at end October 2020 remains well above the regulatory minimum threshold.

He added that as at October 2020, total assets grew by 23.7 percent year-on-year to GH¢150.0 billion while deposits also recorded an annual growth of 27.0 percent to GH¢100.2 billion.

The weighted average interbank lending rate amongst banks also declined to 13.6% in October 2020, from 15.2% in the same period last year.

The downward adjustment the bank said was driven by the cut in the monetary policy rate in March 2020.

Average lending rates of banks dropped to 21.3% from 24.0% over the same comparative period.