The Analysis Of The Rural Credit Market In Ghana

Abstract

The formal banking sector does not satisfy the growing demand for credit, and many borrowers turn to informal loan sources to meet their production and consumption needs. The problem of the rural credit, which includes supplying credit for a rural community for economic growth, is reemerging on the development agenda as a pressing issue. The rural economy is financially very fragile. Lack of credit is a significant and sometimes binding constraint, limiting investment in productivity-enhancing technology and inputs. Rural credit plays a critical role in household strategies to reduce vulnerability. In spite of the contribution that credit entails to the rural development, it has been one of the crucial factors that have not been given proper attention. The purpose of this paper is to identify problems that have hindered the effectiveness of the rural credit market in Ghana. The paper is premised on the theoretical understanding of rural credit markets and applies the framework to investigate the aspect of the rural credit market in Ghana. Improving the rural credit system will help to raise household incomes and reduce poverty and will contribute to the eradication of extreme poverty. The paper identifies high cost, interest rate, lack of collateral, lack of innovation and high delinquency rates as the main factors that have hindered the effectiveness of the rural credit market in Ghana. This paper will interest policymakers to place more emphasis on savings mobilization and to revisit interest rate policy, while providing cheap and adequate credit to small and poor farmers.