Accra, October 25, 2019 – Government has signed an agreement with approved commercial banks to collect internally generated funds on behalf government ministries, departments and agencies as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and Government Hospitals.
The categories of services under the programme included the on-site Banking services where the assigned participating banks located teller offices at the premises of the host MDA, MMDA and Government Hospitals.
Alternatively, the Banks provided collection services with bullion vans on designated days, times and location to pick the proceeds from the host institutions.
The programme is aimed at facilitating the collection of Non-Tax Revenue/Internally Generated Funds (NTR/IGF) and to among others ensure that collections were promptly paid into the consolidated fund.
The policy is also aimed at reducing the incidence of revenue leakages due to fraudulent receipting and handling of cash.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Hon Kwaku Kwarteng a Deputy Minister for Finance, urged participating Banks to cooperate with the Ministry, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, the Bank of Ghana and all assigned Government Agencies to ensure effective mobilization of Internally Generated Fund (IGF).
According to the Hon. Kwarteng, the programme was opened to include all commercial banks operating in Ghana after two years of its implementation. Currently, there were nineteen (19) banks participating in the programme and this is expected to increase to twenty-one by the end of the year.
The increase in the number of banks from an initial six local banks to 21, the Deputy Minister noted, was an indication of how competitive and important the provision of banking services to Government Agencies had become for many banks.
He encouraged them to work within their obligations under the contract saying that “a bank’s continuous operation under the programme will highly depend on the level of its compliance with its obligation under the contractual Agreement as well as the purpose for which the programme was initiated”.
He disclosed that based on an audit review of the programme carried out this year, some banks found culpable of delaying in the payment of funds into the consolidated funds lost their MDAs to compliant banks.
Present at the ceremony were 18 commercial Banks that included G.C.B Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Access Bank, First Atlantic Bank, Prudential Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, Ecobank, Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank, Cal 12. Bank, First Atlantic Bank, National Investment Bank, Barclay’s Bank, U.B.A, Universal Merchant Bank, and Societe Generale Bank.
A number of Government Agencies present to sign the agreement included Lands Commission, Nurses and Midwifery Council, Fisheries Commission, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, a number of Hospitals, Food and Drugs Authority, among others. END