Nyankomasi Ahenkro (C/R), Dec 14, GNA - The Nyankomasi Ahenkro Rural Bank made a profit of 194,907,819 cedis in 2004 as against 156,168,999 cedis in 2003. The Bank's deposit rose from 2,485,337,794 cedis in 2003 to 4,459,437,565 cedis in 2004, representing an increase of 79.43 per cent.

Mr Robert Kutin, Chairman of the Board of Directors, speaking to newsmen at Nyankomasi Ahenkro in the Central Region, said the Bank's total assets increased from 2,873,275,267 cedis in 2003 to 5,113,229,723 cedis, which was an increase of 77.96 per cent within the period. He said the Bank's investment accounted for only 5.31 per cent growth from 1,850,316,493 cedis to 1,948,644,372 cedis. The Chairman said the Bank granted 710,606,314 cedis as loans and overdrafts in 2004 as against 377,985,774 cedis in 2003.

He described the Bank's share capital of 116,949,920 cedis as "woefully inadequate" and appealed to the shareholders to increase their investment to enable the Bank to meet the Bank of Ghana's statutory requirement of 500 million cedis. Mr Kutin said the Bank supported 589 customers with 967.7 million cedis to expand their ventures under a micro-finance facility.