The association of banks in The Gambia has denied claims that banks in the country are not giving out loans, making it difficult to finance projects that would create employment and the attendant economic developments.
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| Mr Mamoud Jagne |
“It is not entirely accurate that banks are not
giving out loans,” Mamour Jagne, executive secretary of Gambia Bankers
Association, said in an exclusive interview with this paper.
The interview was prompted by comments of some economic
operators and private individuals that ‘it is very difficult or impossible to
access finance” from any of the 13 banks in the country.
“It is not true that there is a blanket ban on loan
lending,” Mr Jagne emphasised though he noted that the banks are lending to
customers on a very selective basis.
Mr Jagne, himself an erudite banker, stated: “The purpose of a bank is to mobilize excess
fund from those who have it and lend it out to those who don’t have it. It is in this process that banks make profit
that they pay interest to the depositors and dividend to the shareholders. It is therefore in the interest of the banks
to lend out to the customers.”
According to him, if banks are not lending out to
the customers, then they most have a very good reason for doing so. He said the low level of loan lending is on
account of a number of reasons.
