Seth Twum Akwaboah, the chief executive officer of the Association of Ghana Industries, claimed that the economic environment was plagued by significant uncertainties that had an impact on company profits.
This, he said, was due to the government’s failure to provide clear explanations for several of its recent policy moves, most notably the increase in the monetary policy rate.
Myjoyonline.com quotes the CEO of AGI as saying that the business environment continues to be somewhat unpredictable, making it difficult for policy hikes to inspire investor confidence.
His comments came after the Bank of Ghana announced a hike in the monetary policy rate by 250 basis points to 24.5% on October 7, 2022, the highest the country has ever experienced.
“These are challenging times and indeed it’s a big dilemma that we find ourselves in. Do we continue doing business or do we pack and go? At this particular moment, you cannot pack and go, you must continue to do business but it’s a difficult situation for a lot of our businesses.
“The challenge we have is the uncertainty that is surrounding this whole business environment now. if people are clear about what the horizon is, and what the pointers are getting to, then you can plan on the basis of that. Even if you have a consistent rise in policy rates and inflation and all that and you’re very sure how the endgame is going to be you can still plan around it. The difficulty we have is uncertainty,” he stated.
Seth Akwaboah, however, bemoaned the negative trajectory of the macroeconomic indicators in the economy.
“And when you look at the AGI business barometer survey the major driver of the barometer coming down, the confidence level coming down is the uncertainty and this is where we find ourselves. The continuous rising of the policy rate and all the other macroeconomic indicators pointing to a negative direction is not giving certainty at all in the business environment, and that is indeed tough for businesses,” he added.