……  十四世·托比·阿菲德阁下（Togbe Afede XIV）（上图）敦促加纳议会调查此事

加纳东部地区最大民族“艾维族”所在阿索格利部落的传统首领（国王）十四世·托比·阿菲德阁下（Togbe Afede XIV） 近日对加纳高贷款利率状况表示担忧，敦促加纳国家议会进行调查，希望通过制定法律来处理此事，因为托比阁下质疑银行业及其监管机构对企业负担得起贷款承诺。

托比阁下表示，加纳银行和商业银行都没有为借款人和整体经济做得足够多，因为监管机构向银行发放的贷款利率为 13.5%，而银行向公众发放的贷款利率在 25%至 30%之间。

从全球范围来看，英国债务比加纳债务多，约占GDP的 104%，而加纳的债务约占GDP的 81%。英格兰银行贷款给银行的利率目前是 0.1%，而加纳银行贷款给银行的利率是 13.5%，比英格兰银行高出 135 倍。

“英国的 GDP 为 27 万亿美元，几乎是我们经济规模的 40 倍，即 720 亿美元。但是英格兰银行在 2020/21 年的利润为 5700 万加纳赛地（7600 万美元），低于 2019/20 年的 7200 万加纳赛地（9600 万美元）。另一方面，加纳银行 2020 年的利润为 15.7 亿加纳赛地（2.7 亿美元），低于 2019 年的 18 亿加纳赛地（3.1 亿美元）。”

迦纳术略集团执行董事长、加纳银行前董事会成员、加纳国家酋长院前任主席、阿索格里国国王十四世·托比·阿菲德阁下，在加纳议长 Alban Bagbin 先生及加纳当政主要议员对托比阁下的礼节性拜访，托比阁下时发表了上述观点。

托比阁下说，很多时候，政府的高负债被用来为这种情况辩护，但是加纳政府向国内市场借贷并不是问题的根源，而是监管机构和商业银行的暴利性质。

对托比而言，加纳银行必须专注于为宏观经济稳定、增长和创造就业做出贡献的使命，而不是与商业银行争夺利润。

就商业银行而言托比阁下他质疑为什么他们通过贷出存款人的资金赚取了如此多的收入，而与他们分享的利润却很少。

“银行以牺牲人民、行业、私营部门、政府和我们的增长为代价，从高利率环境中赚取了难以置信的巨额资金。为什么我们要把利率定得这么高？” 托比阁下问到。

十四世·托比·阿菲德阁下同时对如何衡量通货膨胀提出了异议：“我们目前的通货膨胀率，以 2021 年 10 月 31 日 (即 2021 年 10 月 31 日至 2020 年 10 月 31 日) 价格的同比变化 (消费者价格指数) 衡量是 11%。

“加纳银的最优利率是 13.5%。坚持将基本利率保持在通胀率以上是错的。实际上，这种通货膨胀是历史上或过去的通货膨胀，即过去一年的物价变化 (消费者物价指数)。另一方面，利率是一个前瞻性的概念，是未来一年的借贷成本。

托比说：“因此，将加纳银行的基本利率保持在 13.5%，高 于(过去) 11%的通胀率是一个自我实现的预言，它无意中将过去的高通胀输入到未来。这就是为什么我们会陷入高通胀、高利率的恶性循环。”

他补充说：“英格兰银行 (Bank of England) 的最优利率是 0.1%，而加纳银行(Bank of Ghana) 的利率是 0.1% 的 135 倍，这难道不奇怪吗? 你如何以低得多的利率与来自中国或英国的人借贷、生产和竞争? 这是不可能的。

“因此，我们的环境一直是高通胀和高利率的。如果我们的银行利率不是原因，会是什么原因呢? 这种错误的银行利率和随之而来的高利率本身就是我们通货膨胀和汇率贬值的关键因素。

“平价法很容易解释这一点：你把钱放在政府账单中，它会增长，比如说 20%，而生产没有任何相应的增长。这是通胀! 这给我们的货币带来了压力!”

Togbe Afede Reignites Debate on High Lending Rate

…urges Parliament to look into the matter

Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of the Asogli state, has expressed worry over the high lending rate situation in the country – urging Parliament to conduct investigations and possibly enact laws to deal with the matter, as he questions the banking industry and its regulator’s commitment to making loans affordable for businesses.

He said both the Bank of Ghana and commercial banks are not doing enough for borrowers and the economy at large, given that the regulator lends to banks at 13.5 percent while the banks lend at between 25 percent and 30 percent to the borrowing public.

Putting it in a global context, he said the United Kingdom is more indebted – with a debt of about 104 percent to GDP – than Ghana, which is about 81 percent to GDP; yet, the rate at which the Bank of England lends to banks is currently 0.1 percent, while the Bank of Ghana lends to banks is at 13.5 percent – 135 times higher than the former.

“The UK GDP is US$2.7trillion, almost 40 times the size of our economy, which is US$72billion (GDP). But guess what? The Bank of England made a profit of £57million (US$76million) in 2020/21 – down from £72million (US$96million) in 2019/20. The Bank of Ghana, on the other hand, made a profit of GH¢1.57billion (US$270million) in 2020 – down from GH¢1.8billion (US$310million) in 2019.

Toge Afede XIV, who is a former board member of the Bank of Ghana, made this known when the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, and some lawmakers paid a courtesy call on the traditional leader.

Many times, he said, the high indebtedness of government has been used to justify the situation. However, he thinks that government borrowing from the domestic market is not the root of the problem – but rather the profiteering nature of the regulator and commercial banks.

For him, the Bank of Ghana must focus on its mandate of contributing to macro-economic stability, growth and employment creation, rather than competing with commercial banks for profit.

On the part of commercial banks, he questioned why they earn so much from loaning out depositors’ funds, yet share very little of that profit with them.

“The banks are making incredible amounts of money from the high interest rate environment at the expense of the people, industry, the private sector, government and at the expense of our growth. Why do we have to set interest rates so high?” he asked.

Toge Afede XIV, also took issue with how inflation is measured, saying: “Our current inflation rate, measured by the year-on-year change in prices (Consumer Price Index) as at October 31, 2021 (that is, October 31, 2021 vs October 31, 2020), is 11 percent.

“The Bank of Ghana’s prime rate is 13.5 percent. The insistence on keeping the prime rate above inflation is wrong. This inflation, in reality, is historical or past inflation; that is, the change in prices (Consumer Price Index) over the past one year. Interest rate, on the other hand, is a forward-looking concept and is the cost of borrowing over the next one year.

“So, keeping Bank of Ghana’s prime rate at 13.5 percent – above the 11 percent (past) inflation – is a self-fulfilling prophecy; and it inadvertently imports the high inflation of the past into the future.  That is why we are trapped in this vicious circle of high inflation, high interest rates,” he said.

He added: “Is it not odd that the Bank of England’s the prime rate is 0.1 percent and the Bank of Ghana’s rate is 135 times that? How do you borrow, produce and compete with somebody producing from China or from England borrowing at much lower rates? It’s not possible.

“Hence, ours has always been a high inflation and high interest rate environment. If our bank rate is not the reason, what can the reason be? This wrong bank rate and consequential high interest rates are themselves key factors in our inflation and our exchange depreciation.

“Parity laws easily explain this: You keep money in government bills and it grows, by say 20 percent, without any corresponding increase in production. That’s inflationary! That puts pressure on our currency!”

来源：B & FT Online

编译：草语云言

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