CHAPTER 4 Informal sector 32. According to the CSAR, the business community in Ghana is dominated by the informal sector, which employs about 80% of the workforce and accounts for 20% of real GDP. The CSAR further adds that the informal sector in Ghana is a motley of partnerships, joint ventures and sole proprietorships in the rural agricultural sector, small-time gold and diamond miners (galamsay), small-time garages and repair workshops, small manufacturing businesses that adopt simple technologies, private lotto operators (popularly known as “banker-to-banker”), small traders of various categories such as street vendors and hawkers, occupational groups such as providers of commuter services in major cities, food processors, providers of small-time savings schemes, and so forth. The informal sector faces problems in accessing finance for growth, poor skills development, and lack of amenities. Key financial institutions 33. The financial sector comprises the Central Bank (Bank of Ghana), nineteen commercial banks and 115 rural and community banks, funding by NGOs and credit unions, and an informal financial system covering a range of activities known as susu, including individual savings collectors, rotating savings and credit associations, and “credit clubs” run by operators. Nonbank financial institutions also exist and include discount houses, building societies, leasing companies, finance houses, mortgage finance companies, savings and loans companies, and insurance companies that contribute to the domestic investment industry. 34. Both the CSAR and the Background Report underscore the problem of access to finance for investment owing to high interest rates driven by excessive local borrowing and several structural weaknesses, notably the lack of a conducive macroeconomic environment. Further research into the Ghanaian banking sector has found some evidence of an oligopolistic banking structure due to the high profit ratios and high cost 7 structure of Ghanaian banks. Securities market 35. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is established under PNDC Law 333 of 1993, and was formally inaugurated in September 1998. It commenced operations in early 1999. The SEC is the regulator of the securities market and securities 94