President of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng, has urged the government to establish a conducive environment that fosters the growth and success of businesses in the country.
The mid-year budget is scheduled to be presented by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Monday, July 31, 2023.
During an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Friday, the GUTA President expressed his anticipation for the mid-year budget, emphasizing the essential requirements: stability and an enabling environment that allows the business community to flourish and expand.
According to him, the cedi’s stability must be maintained at its current level if the rate of depreciation cannot be reduced.
The cedi is currently traded at an average of GHC 11.50 to the American dollar in the retail market, whilst it went for about GHC10.97 on the interbank market.
The cedi is, however, going for almost GHC12 at the forex bureaus.
He also said he expects the hike in inflation reduced. This, according to him, is the main challenge in the country.
He proffered solutions to ensure the inflation rate is reduced drastically as follows:
- We must do so by lowering the cost of doing business. The cost of doing business is so high that we are completely uncompetitive in the subregion.
- We must also lower the monetary policy rate to allow the lending rate to fall.
- Manage our expenditure.