The Bank of Ghana has announced that it is giving two of the country’s distressed banks until September this year to improve on their financial position, or else face liquidation.
This follows an earlier report from the central bank that two of the nine banks said to currently be in distress are likely to be closed down.
Speaking to the media, the Head of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Ghana Raymond Amanfo said, “People are saying and are thinking that the only action available to the central bank [if the commercial banks concerned fail to meet their obligations] is liquidationâ€.
He added that the Bank of Ghana “is giving them [the distressed banks] the time as prescribed by the law."
However, the Bank of Ghana has persistently declined to disclose the names of the banks, a development that has resulted in some anxiety among the business community and the public
Ahead of a possible raise in the capitalization benchmark for commercial banks in the country as well as the growing demand for credit which is expected to increase even more (with the implementation of the government’s private sector development initiatives), the Bank of Ghana earlier in the year opened an asset quality review exercise  of all banking institutions in Ghana.