An initial amount of ў21 billion loan agreement for the Trust Bank Limited has been signed between the Swiss State Secretariat (SECO), the Swiss Government's agency for developmental finance and the bank in Accra yesterday.
The credit, which is for on-lending to small and medium size enterprises (SME)s, and has no exchange rate risk because it is denominated in cedis, would be targeted at the productive sector of the economy.
According to the agreement, the funds would be lent to SMEs at a competitive market rate but below the prevailing lending rate.
The Ambassador for Switzerland, Mr. George Zubler, signed the agreement on behalf of SECO, whilst the managing director of the Trust Bank, Mr. Paul Carden, signed for his bank.
Commenting on the loan agreement, the Minister for Private Sector Development, Hon. Kwamena Bartels, said the main problem facing SMEs in the country is the inadequate access to long term and medium term loans.
