The Nwabiagya Rural Bank Limited at Barekese in the Nwabiagya District of Ashanti Region has posted another significant growth in all the financial indicators in the 2013 year under review.

The Bank posted a net profit of approximately Ghc2.4 million in the 2013 period under review as against a little over Ghc1.9 million in the previous year, representing a satisfactory growth of 25 %.

The Bank recorded a total deposit of about Ghc39 million in the year 2013 under review as against approximately Ghc35 million in the previous year representing 12.8% growth.

This was made possible because of the intensified mobilisation drive pursued by directors and management coupled with the ever increasing public confidence in the operations of the Bank.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Nana Owusu Sarfo Anwona II, announced this at the 26th Annual General Meeting of shareholders held last Friday at Barekese.

According to him, the year under review was quite a difficult one due to a number of challenges posed by the operating environment.

Some of these challenges he mentioned included the prime rate, although not too high, could not achieve the expectant result of the private sector taking advantage to access loans for further expansions of existing businesses.

Rather, businesses remained stagnant as input prices kept on rising. Hikes in the prices of utilities and fuel added to the manufacturers’ factor costs and the spillover effect on prices of wares displayed in the markets was enormous.

He further mentioned the lack of brisk business activities in the economy which did not encourage borrowing by the private sector as the situation, during the period under review, seriously got very close to that of an economic recession.

In spite of the challenges, the Bank performed satisfactorily well during the year under review as shown in the table.

The Directors of the Bank have recommended dividend payment of Ghc0.030 per share on 15,612,815 ordinary shares. The dividend paid per share for the previous year was Ghc0.026 on 15,433,293 ordinary shares.

The Bank continues to offer assistance to communities and institutions within its operational territories in terms of community development projects. A total amount of approximately Ghc87,972.00 was spent in this direction and as part of the Bank’s corporate social responsibility.

Sectors of the economy that benefitted from the package include education, health and community development among others.

The General Manager of the Bank, Samuel Nuamah Dankwa told Business & Financial Times in an interview that the management team would continue to pursue policies aimed at maximising more profits and giving exceptional customer satisfaction.

He emphasised that the Bank would continue to pursue a massive share and deposit mobilisation, follow stringent cost reduction policies, strengthen internal control measures and develop the human capital to meet the demands of functioning profitability in the competitive rural banking.