Mr Stephen Jalulah
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Pru West, Stephen Jalulah, has entreated rural and community banks (RCBs) to offer financial support to rural dwellers to enable them tap into government’s pro-poor initiatives such as the ‘Planting for Export and Rural Development.’
This, he said, would help revive rural economies and discourage mass rural-urban migration, and feed into the broader economic transformation agenda of the government.
He also urged RCBs to device friendlier Information and Communication Technology (ICT) driven products, targeted at rural small and micro enterprises to make financial services available to their doorsteps.
Mr. Jalulah was addressing the 25th annual general meeting of Yapra Rural Bank at at the weekend at Prang in the Brong Ahafo Region.
He called on players in the banking sector to embrace the ongoing reforms performed by the Bank of Ghana, saying “the move is aimed at sanitising the system for a robust banking sector to cushion economic revolution.”
The Vice Chairman of Yapra Rural Bank, Nasrullahi Abdullah, said the bank managed to meet the GH¢1 million minimum capital requirement before the end of 2017 financial year, explaining that, it achieved that by transferring GH¢398,436.20 from its reserves into stated capital as bonus shares.
“This made Yapra one of the 82 out of 141 RCBs in the country that met the regulatory requirement within the stipulated time,” he said.
Total assets of the bank, he recounted, grew by 13.06 per cent from GH¢17,323,121 in 2016 to GH¢19,585,648, while deposits also increased from GH¢14,023,455 to GH¢16,430,754, representing 17.17 per cent growth.
However, the bank’s profit before tax during the period under review declined by 12.9 per cent from GH¢378,198 to GH¢329,184, Mr Abdullah said, attributing the reduction to “huge provision for bad and doubtful debts” as a result of non-performing loans and high ICT related expenses, among others.
Touching on corporate social responsibility, he noted that notwithstanding the profit decrease, the bank allocated GH¢17,750 to support initiatives in sectors such as health, sanitation, education, and security.
Meanwhile, the bank has completed the construction of a building at Prang to house the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The project was initiated by the community, but it stalled at the roofing stage and upon a request by the community, Yapra Rural Bank committed about GH¢32,000 to finish it.
“With the completion of the NHIS building at Prang, residents would no more travel to Yeji to register or renew their health insurance as it used to be the practice,” Mr Abdullah said.
FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, PRANG
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