Barclays Bank to reopen

Barclays Bank Sierra Leone, the largest banking institution in the country is to reopen on 15 March, the local manager and central bank officials told Reuters yesterday. The bank, which controls 50 percent of all deposits in Sierra Leone, was closed after RUF and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council rebels invaded parts of Freetown, the Sierra Leonean capital, on 6 January. Some of the biggest companies in the country hold accounts with the bank, but have been unable to restart business because they lacked access to their money. Central Bank officials said that they were trying to get the Standard Chartered Bank, which controls 25 percent of deposits and is the second largest bank in the country, to reopen soon.