Naagyei 90.3 Fm Agyapa
Government will in 2019 allocate GH¢200 million to the MICROFINANCE & SMALL LOANS CENTRE (MASLOC) to enable the Centre extend cheaper and small credit to small businesses in districts nationwide.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta who disclosed this in Parliament while presenting the 2019 budget, stated that for both 2017 and 2018, the Akufo-Addo government tasked MASLOC to focus more on strengthening the capacity of this important financial services centre to manage the funds it controls and disburses, rather than expecting more money to be simply thrown at it.
“This was mainly informed by the unprofessional and wasteful manner that the centre was ran before 2017. The centre also had a very bad recovery rate that made it unsustainable.
“We are happy to say that the measures put in place since 2017 are yielding results. The new MASLOC has significantly strengthened its recovery rate to over 85%.
“Government is determined to see MASLOC grow in order to help more and more individuals and groups undertaking small scale enterprises. But, the only way this can be achieved is if we respect the culture of paying back what is borrowed.”
Touching on Ghana Beyond Aid vision, Hon. Ken Ofori Atta noted that “in our drive towards Ghana Beyond Aid, it is imperative that we significantly increase domestic revenue, raise efficiency in the use of public resources, and protect the public purse from leakages.”
