...PROJECT TOPIC THE IMPACT OF GHANA RURAL BANK COMPUTERIASATION AND INTERCONNECTIVITY PROJECT ON THE PROFITABILITY OF RURAL BANKS A CASE OF SOUTH AKIM RURAL BANK LIMITED INTRODUCTION Background Statement It can be said universally that the rate of change and expansion that organisations are striving to achieve has been ambitious. The rural banking sector is no exception. Profitability of banks has improved tremendously. Current trends show that banking is more profitable through the use of technology. The rural banking concept was introduced to bridge the rural urban gap of financial transaction (Addo 1998). Since their inception the rural banks have been at the fore front of developing proper innovative financial product and modifying their operations to suit the specific needs of the rural farmer, the underserved micro enterprise and other low income operatives of the rural economy (Obeng 2009, Owusu Ansah1999) The objective of rural banks include the following, to provide basic financial services to the rural folks .To play a financial intermediary role by mobilizing financial resources from within their area of operation and channelling such funds to support viable ventures and thus invariably improve the socio-economic well-being of the people in the communities they serve, to inculcate banking culture and attitude into the rural folks in order to stem the tide of high volume of liquidity circulating outside the Ghanaian...
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...TERMS * Rural Financial Services Project (Africa Development Bank, German Agency for Technical Cooperation, World Bank): refers to a project being undertaken by the above bodies to provide financial services to the rural dwellers to enhance development. * Credit risk: This refers to the degree to which it is likely that a borrower or debtor may not repay a loan or debt. It also means a particular borrower or debtor perceived by a lender or creditor as being particularly not likely to repay a debt. (Microsoft Encarta 2007). | | | INTRODUCTION Poverty is one of the problems faced by the people living in the rural areas and this largely affects their lifestyles both socially and economically. Along with poverty, many other social problems or issues can be pointed out including unemployment, lack of education, lack of proper governance and over population. These problems are associated with poverty and most of the time regarded as causes or effects. In government’s bid to eradicate poverty from the rural areas, it adopted strategies and one of such strategies is microfinance. Microfinance involves the application of innovative methodologies that make financial services available to relatively poor households and microenterprises. Microfinance can also be termed as the practice of providing financial services including micro credit, micro savings and micro insurance to poverty stricken or poor individuals, such that they are assisted to collect large sums of money...
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...…………………………………………………………………………………. Scope and Limitations ……………………………………………………………………...7 Chapter Outline …………………………………………………………………………….8 References…... DEFINITION What Is Microfinance? Microfinance, according to Otero (1999, p.8) is “the provision of financial services to low-income poor and very poor self-employed people”. These financial services according to Ledgerwood (1999) generally include savings and credit but can also include other financial services such as insurance and payment services. Schreiner and Colombet (2001, p.339) define microfinance as “the attempt to improve access to small deposits and small loans for poor households neglected by banks.” Therefore, microfinance involves the provision of financial services such as savings, loans and insurance to poor people living in both urban and rural settings who are unable to obtain such services from the formal financial sector. Microfinance encompasses the provision of financial services and the Management of small amounts of money through a range of products and a system of intermediary functions that are targeted at low income clients. “Microfinance refers to provision of small loans and other facilities like savings, insurance, transfer services to poor low-income...
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...Organization of the study or Chapters 1.1 Background of the Study The Rural Banking concept was introduced in the mid-1970s. The motives were to mobilize savings from the rural areas and in turn make institutional credit available to the Rural Economy. The need for improved financial intermediation in the rural economy became paramount because of the non-availability of formal institutions and the fact that most rural dwellers are engaged in agriculture. Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy and until recently the largest contributor to GDP. (Yahiya, research Dept. of BOG, 2013) Despite the potential resources existing in the rural areas, farmers and small entrepreneurs lack the required institutional credit to play the expected meaningful role in the Economy. The peasant farmer had to rely on informal operators such as Mobile Bankers locally known as Susu Collectors, and self-help groups and money lenders for his credit needs. These creditors charge exorbitant interest rates which, in most cases, aggravates the poverty state of the borrowers. The bank of Ghana, in a bid to take care of the credit and other financial needs of the rural people, therefore encouraged Commercial Banks to expand their rural networks. The Agricultural Development Bank, for example, which was originally a unit of the Bank of Ghana, was established in 1965 with the aim of reaching the small-scale farmer(s).These Banks were however unable to satisfy the financial...
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...their own bank accounts nor are they able to take out loans, transfer money or insure their families against risks such as illness, accident or death. In most cases, access to these financial services that are so central to sustainable development are either denied or made very difficult. Consequently, people frequently have no choice but to resort to local moneylenders who charge usurious rates of interest or use informal and, therefore, insecure ways of performing transactions such as payments and money transfer. The above is reflected in the quotation by the past Secretary-General of the United Nations: ‘‘The stark reality is that most people in the world still lack access to sustainable financial services, whether it is savings, credit or insurance. The great challenge before us is to address the constraints that exclude people from full participation in the financial sector. Together, we can and must build inclusive financial sectors that help people improve their lives (United Nations, 1997).’’ With almost thirty per cent of the country's population living in poverty, the Government of Ghana clearly faces an enormous challenge to reduce poverty especially in the three northern savannah regions where there is the greatest concentration of poor people. To achieve rapid and sustainable reduction in poverty, it is necessary to have an integrated policy with the various elements of the strategy reinforcing each other. The World Development Report for 1990 (World Bank, 1990) found...
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...THESIS STATEMENT: Rural poverty as an economic woe; eliminating poverty through agriculture and natural resource management, women empowerment, rural infrastructure and education. In Ghana, poverty is primarily rural, with the northern regions recording the highest incidence of poverty in the country (GSS, 2007). Low agriculture productivity, undeveloped markets and lack of gainful wage employment opportunities as well as restrictive access of the less endowed to productive resources have been identified as the major causes of poverty. Governmental policies hardly favour rural areas, leading to rural-urban migration. The number of job opportunities in these poor remote areas is limited and therefore, standard of living in rural areas is generally low. Farming activities which is taunted as the backbone of the economy is left to the old-aged to pursue since the youth sees farming as an activity for people who ‘have nothing to do’. Rural poverty as an economic woe; eliminating poverty through agriculture and natural resource management, women empowerment, rural infrastructure and education. According to the FAO (2015), the severity of the natural resource constraints facing the rural poor in Ghana requires that government focus a good number of projects on natural resource management. Many rural areas in Ghana have natural resources that are untapped. The majority of the rural poor are smallholder farmers, who are responsible for most global food production. Helping them to...
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...Richmond Sagoe TOPIC: Eliminating poverty in rural areas in Ghana THESIS STATEMENT: Rural poverty as an economic woe; eliminating poverty through agriculture and natural resource management, women empowerment, rural infrastructure and education. In Ghana, poverty is primarily rural, with the northern regions recording the highest incidence of poverty in the country (GSS, 2007). Low agriculture productivity, undeveloped markets and lack of gainful wage employment opportunities as well as restrictive access of the less endowed to productive resources have been identified as the major causes of poverty. Governmental policies hardly favour rural areas, leading to rural-urban migration. The number of job opportunities in these poor remote areas is limited and therefore, standard of living in rural areas is generally low. Farming activities which is taunted as the backbone of the economy is left to the old-aged to pursue since the youth sees farming as an activity for people who ‘have nothing to do’. Rural poverty as an economic woe; eliminating poverty through agriculture and natural resource management, women empowerment, rural infrastructure and education. According to the FAO (2015), the severity of the natural resource constraints facing the rural poor in Ghana requires that government focus a good number of projects on natural resource management. Many rural areas in Ghana have natural resources that are untapped. The majority of the rural poor are smallholder farmers, who are responsible...
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...INTRODUCTION Many economic development advocates have stated that for a country like Ghana to come to reach the development heights of the developed nation, they must empower their citizens to break the bond of poverty, which is engulfing them. As the world is gradually becoming a global village most countries in the world are making unending quest to attain a higher level of development that is a type of development where most of its people are employed and are earning enough to subsist and perpetuate its generation. SME’s have an important role on many aspects, such as employment, taxes and innovation that most of times is regarded as something on the responsibility of large firms. In “The Theory of Economic Development” Schumpeter (1934) emphasizes the role of entrepreneur, as a prime cause of economic development, which is development achieved through innovation. Taking this into consideration if the entrepreneur has an important role for development, then this role is achieved through the “institution” that he/she represents. SME activities that would help to propel development and promote the wellbeing of the citizenry most governments are now playing various facilitation roles in collaboration with NGOs and other stakeholders to enable the private sector provide diverse goods and services, including job creation for the people. Many developing countries have shifted their strategic economic focus to embrace the development of an entrepreneural middle-class with the...
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...Submission In the partial fulfillment of AF Project to Prof. Vaibhav Bhamoriya Future of Payment Services in Rural Areas Submitted By Group 5 Amrita Dokania, Anjali Neha Lakra, Ashish Negi, Bhawna Nirmal, Veeru Kumar Prajapati INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, AHMEDABAD Introduction Payments are indispensable parts of our daily transactions, be it B2B, B2C or C2C, and be it rural areas or urban areas. Payment system of a country should be “safe, secure, efficient and accessible” owing to its vital role in raising the GDP of a nation. Payments being one of the most important parts of the financial system, different channels that accelerate the process efficiently constitute the focus of the system. Banking industry has witnessed a tremendous growth in the last few decades in terms of volume and the complexities in the banking system. Even if banks have made significant improvements in the recent years for achieving financial viability and profitability there have been concerns regarding reach and serving a huge population of interior areas. There has been a skewed distribution of population i.e. 6000 per bank branch in urban and 24000 in the rural areas. India has approximately 6.4 lakh villages out of which 5 lakh villages are still unbanked because of the operational and structural issues for example viability, long distance, costs etc. Although rural India comprises of 68% of population, it constitutes only 9% of total deposits and 8% of advances which is...
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...one with a maximum of 10 employees. The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) which is the regulatory body for SMEs in Ghana defines SMEs in terms of both fixed asset and number of employees. It defines an SME as an enterprise with turnover greater than US$200,000 and not more than US$5 million equivalent (NBSSI) The SME market constitutes the vast majority of businesses in Ghana and over the years has evolved to become the key supplier and service provider to large corporations, including multinational and transnational corporations. Principally, SME’s has contributed to: Expanding output; Providing value-added activities in the manufacturing sector; Creating employment opportunities especially in the services sector; Contributing to broadening Ghana‟s export base; Increased competition; Innovation; SMEs are important to almost all economies in the world, especially to those in developing countries. They contribute to productivity and job creation; they serve as a nursery for larger firms constituting the next step for micro enterprises (Palma and Gabriel, 2005). In addition, SMEs tend to be the primary driver for job creation as they are labor intensive and employ more labor per unit capita than larger enterprises thereby creating more jobs in the economy. This is also evident in developing countries like Ghana, as it is estimated that the sector employs about 35% of labor (Mensah and Rolland, 2004). Again according to Sowa et al (1992), even...
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...PROPOSAL ON IMPACT OF RURAL BANKING ON RURAL FARMERS IN BANGLADESH INTRODUCTION: Bangladesh is an agro-based country, essentially are endeavoring for rapid development of the country. More or less 80 percent people directly or in directly depend on agriculture for their occupation .But it is a matter of great sorrow that farmers of our country get less facility in agricultural inputs especially agricultural credit. Due to the lack of credit at proper time they cannot produce crops at proper efficiency. So the responsibility of rural banks needs to be increased. Because If current agricultural trends continue, by the year 2020 in Bangladesh food shortage will increase many times, .The lower calorie intake could lead to poverty, malnutrition and hunger. In an attempt to alleviate some of these potential problems, several institutional and non-institutional sources of rural credit have been made available to Africans. It is hoped that, in the long term, credit will enable the poor to invest in agricultural and non-agricultural productive assets, to adopt new technologies and farming methods, and to minimize environmental degradation. Bangladesh, like other developing countries, has traditionally experienced low productivity, low income levels, low domestic savings, unemployment, and malnutrition. The Bangladesh government, through the Bangladesh Bank , established Rural Banks to channel credit to productive rural ventures and promote rural development. Rural development is a strategy...
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...org/IJSA DOI: 10.5897/IJSA11.143 ISSN 2006- 988x ©2012 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Migrant remittances: A driving force in rural development Benzies Isaac Adu-Okoree* and Adwoa Ofosua Onoma Faculty of Development Studies, Presbyterian University College, Akuapem/Tema Campus, Ghana. Accepted 10 April, 2012 The main push factor for migration from rural communities is lack of employment opportunities for inhabitants who had high level of educational. When they migrate, they remit back to their families at communities they migrated from. Remittances play important role in rural development, and the study using Tutu in Ghana as a case study found out that as a result of money remitted to residents in the community, the study participants acquired farm lands, bought vehicles and built houses which they would not have had without remittances. More wives and mothers than other persons received large portions of the remittances. Those who remitted home maintained that in addition to remitting money to their families, they were also willing to contribute to community development including construction of schools, churches and community centre, and also pay school fees to the brilliant but needy students. Thus, they were willing to help develop the entire community. Key words: Remittances, Tutu, rural development, wives mothers, community development. INTRODUCTION In a study of return migrants, Ammassari (2004) found a number of Ghanaian returnees...
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...Projects Accra, Ghana-November 13, 2006 EXPRESSES THANKS TO YOU, HONOURABLE CHAIRPERSON, FOR THE KIND INVITATION EXTENDED TO DELIVER THIS PRESENTATION AND WELCOMES THE PARTICIPANTS TO THIS WORKSHOP Financing BioFuels and Jatropha Plantation Projects Accra, Ghana-November 13, 2006 Financing BioFuels and Jatropha Plantation Projects Accra, Ghana-November 13, 2006 Financing BioFuels and Jatropha Plantation Projects Accra, Ghana-November 13, 2006 •CDM is a mechanism to monetize environmental value of proenvironmental projects established in response to global climate change. •CDM enables developed countries with high CO2 reduction costs, to meet the shortfall of allowed emissions at a lower cost than achieving the reduction domestically. •To Developing countries, the CDM presents an opportunity to attract investment from developed countries to environmentally sound projects assisting in sustainable development. •Optimum size of the project for CDM financing to be analyzed. This is in terms of CER’s per year (I.e. Certified Emission Reductions OR Tons of CO2 per year). Financing BioFuels and Jatropha Plantation Projects Accra, Ghana-November 13, 2006 Financing BioFuels and Jatropha Plantation Projects Accra, Ghana-November 13, 2006 Petrol Diesel Import Bill Domestic 30% 2006-2007 10 MMT 52 MMT US $ 43.3 Billion Doubled in 2 years 2011-2012 13 MMT 67 MMT ? ? Financing BioFuels and Jatropha Plantation Projects Accra, Ghana-November 13...
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...GLOBALIZATION, EMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY IN GHANA Ernest Aryeetey1 1. INTRODUCTION One of the most significant influences on the performance of the economy of Ghana in the last two decades has been derived from the greater interaction between it and other economies. Thus, following economic reforms that focused considerably on opening the economy to greater and freer external trade, globalization has been a major aspect of the economy and society. But this influence has been observed not only in the area of external trade; it is seen also in terms of capital flows, aid, technology transfer, international migration, etc. All of these have seen significant expansion in the period of reforms, even if this has been on a scale far smaller than in South East Asia and the other faster growing developing economies. Globalization has definitely created opportunities for various parts of the economy to gain access to larger pools of resources as well as markets. While this may generally be perceived to have impacted positively on the beneficiaries, there are also indications that globalization has introduced new risks to environments that were hitherto closed to those risks. The increased risk may, in some cases, have accentuated poverty and worsened income distribution in parts of the country. While poverty has always been generally closely associated with the condition of African states, its link with globalization is a more recent development, and is much less understood...
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...Why are some Microfinance Institutions not sustainable Ghana Christian University College SDM 201222101014 Introduction to Microfinance Mr. Sam Quin Word Count: 1273 Nov. 11, 2014 Table of Content Pg Introduction 3 Definition of Terms 3 Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions 4 Why some Microfinance are not sustainable Solution Evaluation Conclusion References Introduction Microfinance has existed in various forms for centuries, and even longer in Asia, where informal lending and borrowing stretches back for several thousand years. However, the birth of ‘modern’ microfinance is said to have occurred in the mid 1970s in rural Bangladesh. There, in the midst of a famine, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, professor of economics at the University of Chittagong, was becoming disillusioned with the abstract theories of economics that failed to explain why so many poor people were starving in Bangladesh (Jacques, 2010). Dr. Muhammad Yunus saw this challenge, determined to find a practical solution he lend money with zero interest, and Grameen Bank Project was born, it grew rapidly with more than six million borrowers as at 2006. Inspired by the success of the Grameen Bank, the 1970s and 80s saw rapid growth in the number of new micro-finance institutions appearing around the world, many of them started by NGOs and funded by grants...
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