We owe it to Ghanaians to keep protecting the economy; we preserved the savings of 4.6m depositors – Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has assured that the government will work to protect the local economy with prudent policies.

He intimated that this is a government that protected the savings of 4.6million Ghanaian depositors with the reform of the banking and financial sector.

“We owe it to the economy and Ghanaians to keep protecting it,” he said at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday September 28.

Mr Ofori-Atta further indicated that Ghana needs a viable domestic financial system to support its development programme, especially in these three years with limited access to the International Capital Market.

“Therefore, everything must, and will be done, to protect our financial sector; and there must be room for a win-win conversation through extensive stakeholder engagement with both our domestic and external investors.

“Ghana has always had a collaborative approach with its partners and we shall, I am confident, come out with an ‘historic arrangement’.

“The sanctity and the well-functioning of the financial system is sacrosanct and we need the support and trust of all Ghanaians to deliver this. Let us join hands to get this done. The great Celtic Miracle in Ireland in the 1980s was the result of such collaborations especially with Labour and we shall also be blessed with the Ghana Miracle.”

Explaining further, he said, a 5-Member Committee consisting of prominent financial services professionals will lead extensive stakeholder engagements across all the key segments of the financial sector – i.e. banking, asset, management, pensions, and insurance.

“The announcement of the Committee Members will be made in the coming days and they will immediately get to work to engage key stakeholders in the financial services sector, additional to ongoing engagements with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), social partners (labour unions, employers, and FBOs), academia, industry professionals, and the
leadership of Parliament.

“We welcome all contribution to this great public debate, but we must be careful to build and not to tear down our nation.”