ACCRA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched a development bank on Tuesday in an effort to boost the country's economic transformation.

The Development Bank Ghana (DBG), with a seed capital of 750 million U.S. dollars from the World Bank, African Development Bank, the government of Germany, the European Investment Bank, and the government of Ghana, is set to become the key financier of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the West African country.

Akufo-Addo said during the launching ceremony that the bank was the culmination of years of painstaking efforts by his government to strengthen the infrastructure for the transformation of the Ghanaian economy for private sector-led growth.

"By launching DBG today, we are laying the foundation to steer the nation into a situation beyond aid and create a quality transformation of our economy," said Akufo-Addo.

He said the bank would focus on helping to transform the critical sectors of the economy, over a period of time, by supporting all institutions essential for SME transformation.

"It is one of many policy initiatives my government has come up with to help transform the Ghanaian economy. The overarching objective of setting up DBG is to make long-term funding available to the private sector and develop the ecosystem for market access, technology, and innovation," the president added.

Akufo-Addo urged the new bank to use its strong financial position to support the growth of private sector companies to help create high-quality jobs and enable Ghana's private sector to compete more favorably within the African Continental Free Trade Area framework.

Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, said experiences from countries showed that Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) could play major developmental roles in economic transformation.

"Therefore, the Bank of Ghana's expectation is that DBG, together with the other DFIs, would help address market failures in the Ghanaian credit markets, thereby helping businesses invest long-term and promote economic growth and job creation," said Addison. Enditem

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