Entrepreneurs Push For Long-term Loans

Businesses in the private sector are hoping that this year, banks will diversify the leading instruments to include long term financing. Members of the Private Enterprise Foundation admit to Citi Business News that as at the end of 2011, there was enough credit in the financial system for onward lending but because the banks were only offering short term loans, they could not access the loans. Short term loans usually high interest rates barely make returns on investments before repaying is due. According to the Executive Director of PEF, Nana Osei-Bonsu, the private sector would see significant growth if credit facilities from the banks were more for the long term. �Most of these credits come at short term, what the private institutions are looking for to become competitive is a long term loan which is not existent in the system. So there are too many reasons why private sector is not taking advantage even though the liquidity has approved,� he said. Osei-Bonsu said that the conditions of the short term loans did not favour private entrepreneurs as they did not generate profits immediately thus counterproductive.