Dr. Joseph Obeng, President of the Ghana Union of Traders (GUTA), says one of the key issues that President John Dramani Mahama’s administration should address is the cedi’s stability.
He stated that the cedi’s stability was critical to the preservation and protection of Ghana’s businesses.
Dr. Obeng emphasised the need for the new administration to implement measures to deal with the cedi’s depreciation, which has left several businesses in a dire state.
He explained that the cost of doing business was high because of the excessive and unnecessary taxes we pay. We therefore want him to simplify the taxes in order to make them more flexible for traders.
Speaking on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM’s Frontline, he stated that they would like to address both the high rate of inflation and interest rates.
Access to credit was also a challenge because we did not have affordable credit. You may be able to get loans, but at exorbitant interest rates.
He told host Kwabena Agyapong that the GUTA would appreciate it if the government took its time before scrapping the E-Levy.
He proposed to the government to slow down and continue collecting the E-levy for another two years before eliminating it, adding that the proceeds could be used to establish a fund to support Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises to help generate wealth, which sparked interest.
Dr. Joseph Obeng lamented that although the government has promised to establish the Womens Bank, they would be forced to take loans at commercial rates from the bank.
”We have the Agric Developemnt Fund, NIB, which are government banks established to support specific areas but we paying commercial rates on these loans and so we need a system where we would have a bank or fund that will provide support for businesses at a very lower interest rate.
‘’So if we have a fund that Ghanaians paid for, we can use that to establish the bank that will give out loans without the regular commercial rate.’’
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana