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Security and Safety Analyst, Dr Adam Bonaa
Security and safety expert, Dr Adam Bonaa, has raised concerns about the monetary policies of the central bank of Ghana and its implications on national security.
According to Dr Bonaa, the Bank of Ghana, through its monetary policies, is discouraging investors from investing in businesses and instead opting for treasury bills.
In an interview with GhanaWeb, the security expert noted that this trend has become a contributory factor to unemployment in the country.
“If you look at our monetary policies in this country, the Bank of Ghana and its own treasury bill rates and all those things have become inimical to businesses in this country. You have more people investing in the purchase of treasury bills than they would have invested in a business that would keep people in employment.”
Among other risks, the security expert underscored that the growing unemployment in the country coupled with the current economic hardship would lead to security threats.
“Therefore we are likely to have more people become unemployed in the last quarter of this year and this is because the Bank of Ghana in their own policies have not yielded any value for businesses of this country. And the more we have more unemployed youth in this country, the more likely this country will one day go up in flames because then the Bank of Ghana is not looking at what policies shall we put in place to see to it that it becomes profitable investing in businesses than investing in treasury bills,” he stated.
In addition to his concerns about the interest on treasury bills, Dr Bonaa cited the current exchange rate of the cedi against other major currencies as another concern.
He emphasised that such factors, including the central bank’s interest rate on loans, contribute to the growth of businesses and lead to unemployment.
“Businesses are folding up because the Banks are lending with an interest rate of about 30 to 31 percent. So today if you borrow a hundred thousand, you end up paying about 31 thousand or 30 thousand minimum by the end of the year. So why won’t businesses buy treasury bills instead of going to borrow at a higher interest rate to invest in a business? The banks themselves have also decided to buy treasury bills because that is more profitable,” he stated.
He therefore called on the central bank and the ministry of finance to relook at the monetary policies to ensure they inure to the growth of businesses.