The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has called for improved access to affordable development financing for women and young traders, warning that high interest rates are preventing businesses from expanding and competing effectively under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Grace Dzeble, Head of Marketing at the GNCCI, said Ghana risked missing out on significant opportunities in the continental market if traders, particularly women-owned businesses, continued to face difficulties securing loans on affordable terms.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, October 28, she said the main challenge was not the absence of funds in the banking sector but the high cost of borrowing, which made commercial loans inaccessible to many traders.
She explained that businesses could have adequate stock and the potential to expand but still struggle to obtain financing because prevailing interest rates made borrowing unsustainable.
“We cannot depend on the commercial banks because there’s availability. But accessibility is a problem. The banks have the money, but they are not able to access. Like Doris just said, you may have the stocks, you may have all that. But the interest rate is the issue,” she said.
Ms Dzeble said the situation required targeted interventions to ensure women and young entrepreneurs could obtain financing under conditions that allowed them to grow their businesses and repay loans without undue financial pressure.
She urged Development Bank Ghana to ensure that participating financial institutions (PFIs) channel funds under its development-financing arrangements to eligible traders instead of relying solely on their conventional commercial lending products.
According to her, development financing could provide more flexible and patient lending terms, enabling businesses to invest in expansion and build their capacity to serve larger markets.
Ms Dzeble noted that women account for more than 40 per cent of Ghana’s small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector, making access to affordable credit particularly important for inclusive economic growth.
She stressed that supporting women traders was essential to strengthening Ghana’s competitiveness under the AfCFTA, which offers businesses opportunities to reach customers across African markets.
She warned that without affordable financing, many women-owned and youth-led enterprises would remain constrained by limited capital, reducing their ability to expand operations and benefit from increased regional trade.
