The Managing Director of the Agricultural Development Bank, Dr. John Kofi Mensah has revealed that the Bank has spent more than a million Ghana Cedis in support of government’s initiative to fight the novel Coronavirus.
According to Dr. Kofi Mensah aside the Bank donating an amount of Two Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS200,000.00) to the National COVID-19 Trust Fund and buying Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and items to the tune of Eight Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS800,000.00) the Bank has also waived charges on all electronic banking transactions below GHS100.00.
Also the Bank contributed towards the Ghana Bankers Association donation of Ten Million Ghana Cedis towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and also reduced interest by 200 percentage points.
Dr. Kofi Mensah made this revelation in Accra when the Bank donated PPE and other items to selected state institutions including the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and selected regional and district hospitals.
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The items included face masks, pairs of hand gloves, hair nets, Veronica buckets, alcohol-based hand sanitisers, the others were liquid soap, paper towels and thermometer guns.
Dr Mensah said the decision was taken by the board and management of the bank in response to the President’s call on institutions to support the national fight against the pandemic.
“Our major focus will be on health institutions in mainly the peri-urban and rural areas, our customers and also our hardworking farmers and traders who are vulnerable to attack due to the nature of their work,” he said.
He disclosed that the bank would soon announce a special package for its customers to further ease the pressure on them.
In relation to safety protocols to prevent the spread of the disease, he said the bank had put in place measures to ensure that all health protocols as outlined by health authorities were adhered to.
“Currently, we have drastically reduced our workforce by about 52 per cent in line with social distancing protocols. We have provided all our 83 branches with hand sanitisers and PPE for their personal and customer use,” he said.
A Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Mr. George Boamah Oduro commended the Bank for the kind gesture and said the bank has shown enormous commitment towards ending the pandemic.
He said the Ministry was going to ensure the items got to farmer based organizations for use by their members.
