Grapevine

Government allocates GH¢8.2bn to support SMEs

Member of Parliament for the Nhyiaeso Constituency, Dr Stephen Amoah

The government has earmarked GH¢8.2 billion to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country under the Growth and Opportunity Initiative for Small and Medium Enterprises project.

Dr Stephen Amoah, Deputy Minister for Finance, who announced this, said the key driving agencies for the initiative would include the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Ghana EXIM Bank, the Development Bank Ghana (DBG), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The GEA will receive GH¢200 million to provide support to high-growth SMEs through small-scale grants and loans with highly subsidized rates for up to two years.

The Ghana EXIM Bank will also be supported with GH¢500 million to offer SMEs highly subsidized financial support for both capital and operating expenditures and offer capacity building to programme beneficiaries.