A business loan is not a shortcut to a luxurious lifestyle; this is an admonition to the business community by the Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Matilda Asante Asiedu.
The Second Deputy Governor insists that loans are fuel for business, and hence misusing them comes with a great cost to both the business and the country’s financial sector.
Matilda Asante Asiedu gave this caution at a sensitization workshop on the Borrowers and Lenders Act, for members of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI). She stresses that access to credit comes with weighty responsibilities, and at the heart of those responsibilities are character, trust, and the discipline to use borrowed funds exactly as agreed.
She says that whether it is a bank, a friend, a sibling, or a supplier giving you goods on credit, businesses must not lose the fact that someone is trusting them. What sustains that trust, she says, is your commitment to repay and your honesty in how you use the money.
She further remarked that too many businesses undermine their own future by diverting loans meant for growth into unrelated personal spending.
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“The idea is not to take the loan and buy the next beautiful car, but it’s to take the loan and put it in the business. Because if you put that loan in the business, the probability that the business will generate more, and out of that, you can then buy that beautiful car is very high,” she emphasized.
Loans, she said, are powerful tools that can transform a small business into a thriving enterprise. But that transformation only happens when borrowers understand the agreements they sign, apply the funds purposefully, and honour their repayment obligations.
With rising access to credit across the country, she noted, responsibility and accountability are more important than ever. Misapplying loans weakens businesses, breaks trust, and closes future opportunities.
“Can your banker trust you? It might not even be a banker. Can your friend, sister, colleague who is lending you money or giving you the goods in advance against future payments trust that you will pay them back? That’s very important,” the BoG deputy governor stressed.
She added, “With increased access clearly comes greater responsibility and accountability. And borrowers must understand the agreements they sign, which is why this workshop is important, honour their repayment obligations, and apply their loans purposefully to strengthen their businesses.”
In a challenging economy where many SMEs rely on very difficult-to-come-by borrowed funds to stay afloat or expand, she argues that discipline, integrity, and smart financial decisions, not shortcuts, are imperative.
