Claims of unaccounted for GHC269 million false – Trade Ministry

The Ministry of Trade and Industry says claims made by Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Select Committee on Trade and Industry and Tourism, that a sum of GHC269 million cannot be accounted for are false and misleading.

To that end, in response to the Ranking Member’s request, the Ministry has submitted detailed information on the application of the entire GHC269 million budgeted for interest subsidy payments for loan facilities granted by selected Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) to de-risk loans advanced to 1D1F companies.

This was conveyed in a statement signed by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Patrick Yaw Nimo.

Minority claim

At a press conference in Accra, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah alleged that about GHC207 million could be accounted for in the final accounts provided by the Ministry.

According to the Minority, the government had said GHC508 million had been given to banks in support of 1D1F to de-risk the loans given to the companies to reduce the interest rate of their loans.

The Minority further claimed that the Ministry had said GHC2.69 billion in loans had been given to 1D1F.

Addressing the media in Parliament last Friday, the Member of Parliament for the Ellembele constituency, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry had provided documents on how the amounts had been used.

“So we are asking the Ministry that we will need the names of the banks and the names of each of the companies as well as the amount each and every company has taken. Initially, the Ministry said it will take some time for them to get these documents. They dragged it and finally, they brought us the list of the banks with the names of the companies and the amounts. We insisted that without that we will not approve their budget,” he said.

He added: “We finally got that report this morning. Unfortunately, the Ministry was unable to account for the 269 million loans given to the banks. The Ministry was only able to account for GH¢62,281,484.29 million what it means is that a total amount of GHC207, 407, 899 have not been accounted for. In other words, that amount, as far as we are concerned, is missing.”

Response

Responding to the claim in the statement, the Trade Ministry noted that between 2017 and 2021, the PFIs had received a total of GHC269, 689,383.76 as interest subsidies in support of ID1F companies.

“Based on reports submitted to the Ministry, the PFIs have to date utilized an amount of GHC62, 281,484.29 10 cover interest subsidies from Government to support loans granted by the Pils to IDIF companies. The balance of GHC207 million is in the custody of the PFls pending the maturity dates for interest payments for loans granted to IDIF companies in line with their loan agreements,” it explained.

The statement said the Ministry expected the Ranking Member to have put out the information, also available to him, that to date the PFIs had collectively granted loans amounting to Ghs2.69 billion to support IDIF companies

“The Ministry wishes to use this opportunity to assure the private sector operators interested in the IDIF Initiative that, it will continue to provide support for their projects working in collaboration with the PFIs, to sustain and increase the over 153,782 jobs created by 1DIF companies across the country,” the statement assured.