Accra, June 18, GNA - Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) Limited on Wednesday re-launched its Kudi Nkusuo savings and credit product designed to grow businesses in the informal sector of the economy. Mr Lawrence Adu-Mante, Managing Director of GCB, said micro-finance constituted an effective instrument for poverty eradication through job creation. He said the idea was to extend a helping hand to traders, market women, artisans, hawkers, shoe-makers, repairers and those in the informal sector to develop and expand their businesses which would impact positively on their standards of living. Mr Adu-Mante said processes for accessing funds under the Kudi Nkusuo scheme had been streamlined, the credit value reviewed and there had been an adoption of strong communication and promotional strategies to suit clients. He said contributors were allowed a withdrawal of specified percentage of their total contributions in cases where loans had been acquired.

Mr Adu-Mante said the product would enable beneficiaries to acquire the necessary technologies, equipment and machinery for their operations. "This will enhance their productivity, increase their rate of output, competitiveness and profitability." Professor Gyan Bafour, Deputy Minister of Finance, urged Ghanaians to cultivate the habit of savings saying, "A little savings today, a better life tomorrow." He said government had laid structures to lift the burden of poverty and called on all to take advantage of them. Prof. Baffour said the goal of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) was to ensure sustainable equitable growth, accelerated poverty reduction and the protection of the vulnerable within a decentralized environment. "This is to eliminate widespread poverty and growing income inequality among the productive poor who constitute the majority of the working population," he said. Ms. Adwoa Asaa Boateng of GCB Marketing Department said the scheme started with an initial deposit of three Ghana Cedi followed by a daily collection by a team of trained personnel.