Women, particularly those in the informal sector, are set for a boost as the government announces the establishment of the Women's Development Bank this year.

This was revealed by the Minister of State in charge of Government Communication, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, while speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Wednesday, January 14.

He mentioned that work towards the establishment of the Women Development Bank is far advanced and is expected to be rolled out this year.

“I can assure you that under the auspices of the Vice President, work on the Women Development Bank is far advanced, and in all likelihood, it will be rolled out this year,” he said.

The bank aims to close the gender credit gap by offering low-interest loans, flexible collateral requirements, and specialised products for women-led businesses.

“During our campaign, we identified that women’s access to capital was a major challenge, and its resolution will capitalise on additional economic growth and enhance the welfare of Ghanaian women,” he said.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu explained that the 2025 Budget made a provision of GH¢51 million to support the preparatory work and institutional framework required to set up the bank.

“In the 2025 budget, GH¢51 million was allocated to help finance the structures that will lead to the establishment of the bank. In the 2026 budget, GH¢401 million was allocated,” he stated.

The Minister assured that the process is being led under the auspices of the Vice President and has reached an advanced stage.

A Finance professor and Dean of the University of Cape Coast School of Business, John Gartchie Gatsi, in July 2024, endorsed the National Democratic Congress flagbearer's promise to create a Women’s Development Bank (WDB), calling it timely and insightful.

In a social media post, Professor Gatsi explained the differences between commercial banks and women’s development banks, emphasizing that the WDB aims to foster economic growth for women.

He noted that if the Mahama administration establishes the WDB upon winning the elections, it would be transformative in promoting economic empowerment and increasing productivity among women.

Read the full statement below:

The concept of a Women Development Bank is not new globally. It has been established in countries such as India to internationally support women entrepreneurs to create and sustain enterprises and to deal with poverty. It has been established that generally, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) established and managed by women have a higher chance of survival, growth, and job creation.

As part of growing the participation of women in enterprise and scaling up their contribution to economic growth and increasing job creation opportunities to tackle the security-laden unemployment, the promise by John Mahama and Jane Opoku Agyemang to establish a Women Development Bank is timely and thoughtful. A Women Development Bank is an intentional strategy to economically empower women in the country to get access to long-term credits at either zero interest or lower interest rates than commercial banks.

Development banks, in general, are different from commercial banks. The latter grants mostly short-term loans with high interest rates, putting a burden on recipients. This creates a great interest burden and difficulty for the growth of businesses.

The best way to reduce poverty drastically is through the provision of development credits to women entrepreneurs.

A Finance professor and Dean of the University of Cape Coast School of Business, John Gartchie Gatsi, has endorsed the National Democratic Congress flagbearer's promise to create a Women’s Development Bank (WDB), calling it timely and insightful.

In a social media post, Professor Gatsi explained the differences between commercial banks and women’s development banks, emphasizing that the WDB aims to foster economic growth for women.

He noted that if the Mahama administration establishes the WDB upon winning the elections, it would be transformative in promoting economic empowerment and increasing productivity among women.

Read the full statement below:

The concept of a Women Development Bank is not new globally. It has been established in countries such as India to internationally support women entrepreneurs to create and sustain enterprises and to deal with poverty. It has been established that generally, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) established and managed by women have a higher chance of survival, growth, and job creation.

As part of growing the participation of women in enterprise and scaling up their contribution to economic growth and increasing job creation opportunities to tackle the security-laden unemployment, the promise by John Mahama and Jane Opoku Agyemang to establish a Women Development Bank is timely and thoughtful. A Women Development Bank is an intentional strategy to economically empower women in the country to get access to long-term credits at either zero interest or lower interest rates than commercial banks.

Development banks, in general, are different from commercial banks. The latter grants mostly short-term loans with high interest rates, putting a burden on recipients. This creates a great interest burden and difficulty for the growth of businesses.

The best way to reduce poverty drastically is through the provision of development credits to women entrepreneurs.

Normally, since a Women Development Bank is a special class of development bank, it receives seed money from international development and financial institutions, domestic governments, foreign governments, foundations, and NGOs. There are people who are concerned about the zero interest or low interest charge, indicating concern about the survival of the bank. We have even seen some on-lending development facilities in agriculture and other sectors through the normal commercial banks. In such cases, the interest rates are very low. So the setup and operation of a development bank are different from that of a commercial bank. The zero-interest loan portfolios of the development bank will attract interest from the Islamic Development Bank.

Some people also ask, why women? Is it not discriminatory? We have been dealing with women's empowerment, equality, and inclusion in leadership for a long time. This was given a boost by Beijing 1995. Truth be told, we still have a long way to support our women to fight poverty and enhance their entrepreneurial opportunities. We do all these for ourselves. When a woman is able to develop an enterprise, she doesn’t use the benefit alone; children, husbands, and other family members are the real beneficiaries.

A Women Development Bank creates the opportunity to increase the productivity of women.