Ghana International Bank trains over 60 bankers on Trade Finance

"Also, there are huge opportunities for trade nance on the African continent. Here in Ghana, we have several products that are required in West Africa, and banks and nancial institutions can do more to facilitate that. Some of the ways in which banks can do that are to provide the nancing that allows factories to expand and businessmen to make and receive payments. "Banks have an important role to play, and intentional efforts such as this training to make sure we work together to promote trade in Africa will really help,", he added.

On his part, John Awuah, Chief Executive O cer of the Ghana Association of Banks, said the training is timely for banks in West Africa to further understand trade nance instruments that can help in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

"The good thing about trade nance is that it makes transaction costs a bit manageable because it is cheaper compared to conventional nancing, so trade nance products provide that bridge that enables businesses to access nancing in a more cost-e ective manner."

"We have had a very engaging session with the facilitators of this programme focused on understanding trade nance instru- ments—the instruments that we use to undertake international trade as banks working for our customers. We can only refer the right nancial instruments to our customers to undertake the trade and get their goods delivered to their doorstep when banks better understand this topic," he concluded.

GHIB has contributed immensely to Ghana’s economy since its inception by working very closely with some banks in the Ghanaian space. The bank has facilitated the import of goods and the export of some of the commodities that Ghana produces. GHIB has been at the heart of some of the biggest syndicated transactions that Ghana has been engaged in and has been involved with remittance ows in Ghana and west Africa.