The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce (GNCCI) and Industry, Mark Badu-Aboagye, says government must use the upcoming mid-year budget review to bring relief to businesses in the country.

He said while it was envisaged that the $3 billion bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would bring stability, it “had also come with conditions that had shot up the cost of doing business, and brought undue hardship on businesses”.

Businesses, he said were anticipating with some hope that the government would use the Mid-Year budget review to announce some measures to help reduce the plight of the entreprenuers and the general public as well

Mr Badu-Aboakye was speaking to a gathering of business executives, entrepreneurs and civil society organisations at the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank breakfast meeting held on Tuesday on the theme: ‘The current economic situation and you: what to expect, how to cope and how to thrive’.

Other speakers at the event included the Head of Corporate and Investment Banking, Stanbic Bank, Economist and Professor of Finance, Professor Godfred A. Bokpin and the Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy, Benjamin Boakye.

Difficult conditions

Mr Badu-Aboakye explained that businesses thrive in an enabling environment and suffer under harsh economic conditions such as what pertains in the economy presently.

For instance, he said the introduction of new tax measures was driving up inflation while the rise in inflation was consuming businesses, stifling growth across all sectors of the economy.

The new tax measures are expected to help the government to raise an additional US$340 million in revenue domestically.

The GNCCI boss also noted that the fluctuations in the exchange rate, especially the dollar rate to the local currency, which hovers around 12 to a dollar, was high and not favourable for business growth.

“The dollar rate around 12 to a dollar is high, and if you are importing you know what that means,” he added.

Again, he said the sharp increases in water and electricity tariff were all affecting inflation, bringing down purchasing power of individuals and thereby restraining the growth of businesses.

“Inflation at the end of May was 42 per cent, and it is the third highest in Africa after Zimbabwe and Sudan, so businesses are consumed by taxes and taxes are driving up inflation”, he said.

Corruption

Prof. Bopkin said one could not blame the country’s underdevelopment on the government’s inability to collect more taxes from the people.

Rather, he said it was the result of corruption and corruption-related activities that had consumed a chunk of the country’s resources, and deprived it of the needed development.

For instance, he said the country was losing annually, about US$3 billion dollars to corrupt practices that had almost become entrenched in the public sector.

“It not true that Ghana has not developed because we have not taken enough taxes, we need to check corruption because we lose US$3 billion to corruption and leakages in the system,” Prof. Bopkin said.  

Meanwhile, he said the government and the public must be alarmed at the rate illegal mining activities were threatening the sustainability of the country and take stringent measures to curb the menace.   

Mr Boakye also appealed for citizens and civil society organisations to lead the charge in demanding accountable and efficient governance from public officials.

That, he said, was the only means of alleviating the current economic challenges that had brought undue hardships on individuals, households and businesses.

“The government must meet the citizens halfway because we looked on while bad economic decisions were being made, and although we spoke about it, wrote about it, we should have been more hard on that,” Prof. Bopkin said.

SOURCE: GraphicOnline