Alhassan Andani, an Economist and a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stanbic Bank, has advised the government to adopt effective and efficient digital systems for Ghana’s credit management.
Mr Andani asked the government to build robust technological infrastructure that would limit human control in loan acquisitions and implement mechanisms that would monitor the efficient use of such monies.
The former Banker was speaking with the Ghana News Agency on Thursday evening, on the margins of the launch of the 10th anniversary of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICMG), Ghana, in Accra.
He said doing so would go a long way to curb the recurrent debt crisis and called on Ghanaians to seek accountability from the government, while limiting their expectations not to pressure for debt accumulation.
He also advised political leaders against making ambitious promises in their bid to be elected to offices from the District Assembly level to Parliament, and the Presidency, which put pressure on the government to spend beyond budgets.
Mr Andani, who is currently the Executive Chairman, LVSAfrica – an integrated business advisory and enterprise development firm, said this while bemoaning the recurrent Ghana’s debt crisis.
Ghana’s debt is now “unsustainable”, with the government implementing a US$3 billion loan-support programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to overturn the situation and reach 55 per cent debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 55 per cent by 2028.
“Our current debt situation leaves so much to be desired; I’ve been in finance for a very long time, but we’ve not seen this level of despair within our credit system, and the impact on financial services,” Mr Andani said.
The former Banker of more than 20 years of experience, including credit management, attributed Ghana’s frequent debt crisis to the inability of governments to select people that would use the funds borrowed optimally.
He, therefore, recommended the utilisation of digital technologies to allocate loans to the most efficient users and ensure proper monitoring to yield good returns in the country’s productive sectors so it could pay back.
He explained that credit was invariably at the centre of financial services because it was often the means of getting adequate funds from those who had the money, investing it to get profit to repay as loan.
“Financial service providers gather resources from surplus owners who want them for safe keeping and access it anytime they want and also make it available to those who want to use it create asset and develop enterprises,” he said.
“It’s for all the operators; the government, citizenry, financial service providers, and regulators to rethink our role and manage expectations, and rearrange the payment, which is what’s been done, and be able to pay back,” he advised.
Speaking at the event, Dr Anthony Aubynn, Chairman, CICMG, urged credit management professionals to continue to be agents of change, advocating policies that would promote responsible lending practices and financial inclusion.
Dr Aubynn said it was important to “embrace innovative technologies, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics to streamline processes, mitigate risks, and extend financial services to underserved communities.”
