This was contained in the Board Chairman’s report delivered at its 39^th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Ajumako Owane on Saturday.

The chairman, Dr John Kofi Mensah, who doubled as the Managing Director of the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB), attributed the 2020 loss to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country that yearwhich disrupted business activities.

He said in the face of the difficulties, “the Board, through its subcommittees and the various management committees worked together “to ensure sound business practices throughout the period under review”.

Dr Mensah said as a result, the bank’s operating income of GH?3.778 million in 2020 increased to GH?4.885 in 2021, showing a rise of 29.32 percent.

He said similarly, the bank recorded an increase of 12 per cent in its 2020 total deposits of GH? 18,378,508 to record of GH? 20,576,062 last year.

The board chairman added that the loan portfolio of GH?10,925,333 in 2020 increased to GH?12,866,549 in 2021, representing 17.8 percent growth.

Making reference to the pre-tax profit of GH? 564,492 last year compared to the loss of GH?29,998 in 2020, Dr Mensah said the two figures showed a relative growth of 1,982 percent.

The board chairman, without giving the 2020 figure, said total assets grew by 20.4 percent in 2021 to GH? 179.8 billion.

“These indicators show how resilient the bank (EDRB) is and the good fortunes and opportunities that await us in 2022 and beyond,” Dr Mensah said.

A dividend of GH? 0.01 per share was announced but the board chairman said that was subject to the approval of the bank of Ghana because of the central bank’s suspension in 2020 of declaration and payment of dividend due to the impact of COVID-19.

The announcement caused some of the shareholders to express anger and worry but had to calm down.

One of them, Mr Arhinful Essel, suggested and was ominously supported by the rest that the whole idea of shareholding must be reconsidered.

According to him, the value of money used to buy shares at the inception of the bank 40 years ago had greatly fallen compared to the same amount invested differently in the money market, so dividend per share must be a significant amount.

Mr Benjamin Chemel, Head of Finance and administration of ARB Apex Bank PLC, commended EDRB for turning the tide in 2020 to make profit in 2021.

He encouraged it to sustain the performance.

Mr Isaac Akhurst, the Central Regional Secretary of Association of Rural and Community Banks, also praised the bank’s performance, particularly for ‘’complying with the corporate governance guidelines put in place by the Bank of Ghana”.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam in the Central Region, Rev. Ransford Kwesi Nyarko, also commended the bank’s performance but went further to appeal to shareholders and customers to continue to support the bank to grow.

“This is the only bank in our district, so we must help it to survive to support us and our businesses here,” the DCE said.