Sale Of Govt Shares In Agric Dev Bank • No Decision Yet

The government has not sold its shares in Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to Stanbic Bank.

A statement signed by a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Prof. George Gyan-Baffour, issued in Accra said the ministry had noted with concern that although it had come out to deny media speculations that the government had sold its shares in ADB to Stanbic Bank, sections of the media were still peddling this falsehood.

It reiterated that no such decision had been taken, saying that neither the government nor the Bank of Ghana had sold its shares in ADB to Stanbic Bank.

The statement explained that the government received an unsolicited proposal from the Stanbic Bank sometime last year.

"A committee made up of officials of the ministry and the Bank of Ghana was formed to review the proposal and suggest an appropriate response," it said.

The statement added that the committee was yet to submit any report to the government and indicated that "we wish to confirm that (the) government has not taken any decision on the sale of its shares in ADB".

"Again we wish to state that although the 2007 Budget Statement and Economic Policy stated government's intention to rationalise her participation in the banking industry, this rationalisation would be done taking cognisance of the role these banks play in the Ghanaian economy," it added.