Biriwa (C/R), Jan. 13, GNA - The Mfantseman Community Bank in the Central Region has made significant progress since a new management took over its administration in May 2004, Mr Matthew Kayang, the Manager, told the Ghana News Agency at Biriwa.

He said the bank's deposits had increased from 3.3 billion cedis from May to 3.9 billion cedis as at December 2004 while Treasury bill purchases shot up from 2.9 billion cedis to 3.3 billion cedis. The bank recovered 787 million cedis loans from its debtors during the period under review.

Mr Kayang said the bank had disbursed 600 million cedis from the Social Investment Fund (SIF) under its micro-financing project to some 353 customers, mostly fishmongers and farmers to improve their businesses.

The manager assured stakeholders of the bank that the board and the management would continue to pursue prudent measures to improve upon the gains made so far.

Mr Kayang, however, expressed concern about poor recovery of loans granted under programmes such as the poverty alleviation fund and counterpart facilities provided by the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs.