Support Programme for Enterprise Empowerment and Development Ghana, a multinational donor rating service, in collaboration with the German technical cooperation and the Danish agency for International Development has introduced a rating service to assess and support the operations of micro financial institutions in Ghana.

The initiative offers a wider support package to the microfinance industry. It helps to examine the activities of these establishments in the areas of governance and decision making, risk management products and services .It also help to promote financial statements efficiency and profitability as well as client friendliness.

At a stakeholders forum organised for the micro finance industry in Accra on Friday, Ken Appenteng Mensah, a financial expert with SPEED held that the introduction of the local rating service would enhance performance and transparency in the microfinance sector.

He disclosed that the rating would also help to build the capacity of managers of financial institutions to enable them gain accurate, objective and thorough understanding of the different elements of their financial activities.

It would also benefit clients and consumers of the financial sector in terms of assurance and trust from these institutions that have benefited from the rating programme.

To assist international lenders and commercial banks to know the appropriate time to lend to micro finance institutions. To enable donors to know when to assist micro financial institutions and when to release funds for needed areas.

Ken Appenteng Mensah revealed that Ghana is the second country in Africa to experience the operation of a multi donor services after Uganda.

He told The Statesman that the technical and financial support of SPEED is made up of three components, that's Business Development, which seeks to facilitate the development of businesses in the country.

The technical assistance component involves support to microfinance institutions and banks with a sizeable microfinance portfolio. It provides financial services to the poor in general and the small, micro and medium enterprise sector.

The financing facility component provides financial wholesale products to financial institutions that are either already lending to MSMEs. Ken Appenteng stressed that all the components, work together to create synergies in achieving the objectives of SPEED.

A sum of 10 million Euros has been budgeted to help finance all the projects. It has a 12 percent interest rate on all loans received by the micro financial institutions.

The second face of the SPEED programme which started in 2006 is scheduled to complete in 2006, according to Mr. Appenteng.