As the Nana Akufo-Addo’s government reaches its 100 days in office, the Ghanaian business community appears to be highly expectant of the government’s ability to fix challenges facing their operations.
Some business owners expressed optimism in the administration after the government’s maiden budget announced the abolishment of nuisance taxes and in some areas tax cuts.
Before coming into office, some of the major issues the government was expected to address included unreliable power supply, high taxation regime, rising interest rates, and unstable currency.
Speaking on Citi FM’s Business Today, an Executive Member of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) Benjamin Yeboah lauded the government for giving the private sector an indication that it will create a conducive environment for growth.
“We believe government has clearly showed that it will help the private sector to grow by announcing the tax cuts. It is something the private sector has been pushing for,” he said.
On the same programme, the CEO of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce, Mark Badu Aboagye also commended the government’s macroeconomic policies in the first 100 days.
“For me on a whole the three months is still very short but I believe the right steps are being put in place to ensure that in the long run we are able to get what we want for businesses to thrive and also move the economy forward”
He, however appealed for its sustainability to guide further decision making by businesses.
“The Treasury Bill rate is also reducing. We are yet to see how the banks will bring down the interest rates, it’s still very expensive for everybody to go to the bank and borrow,” he stressed.
On his part, Banking Consultant, Nana Otuo-Acheampong was hopeful consumers may be enjoying reduced lending rates in the short to medium term.
Meanwhile economist, Adu Owusu Sarkodie stated that the appointment of economists to head the two key financial institutions; the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana, should propel government’s efforts to fix what he says is the challenging economy that the NPP government inherited.
In his view, the oversubscription of the four bonds recently issued should also reflect in meeting government’s targets of attracting foreign investments.
“I think that when government went to the bond market to raise domestic bond we had a lot of foreign subscribers and there is a lot of foreign currency inflows into the economy with inflation going down, the confidence that organizations have in the economy is coming back,” he said.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)