2022 Budget: Chamber of Commerce call for sustainable stimulus packages for MSMEs
The Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has stressed the need for the 2022 budget to refocus on offering more stimulus packages to provide relief to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to sustain economic gains.
The COVID-19 outbreak reduced productivity, caused job losses and a steep decline of revenue for government, businesses, households and individuals, hence, support for the sector will enable businesses to grow and expand to create more jobs.
Mrs Benedicta Anita Mensah, the Executive Secretary of the Central Regional branch of GCCI, made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Cape Coast on Tuesday.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister, will on Wednesday, November 17, present the 2022 Budget Statement at the floor of Parliament under Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution.
The 2022 Budget Statement will make projections for economic policy, consolidate economic gains achieved so far and seek approval for public expenditure.
The stimulus package, she suggested, must be apolitical and include financial and technical assistance on business development, management capabilities, productivity-enhancing improvement and replication of skills acquired via peer-group consulting.
Such support will give a strong boost to the government’s agenda to promote private investments and encourage growth in non-resource-based sectors.
Mrs Mensah said MSMEs accounted for more than 70 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and represent the 92 per cent of businesses that were hardest hit and needed to be given special attention by the government.
However, she indicated, that the support must target MSMEs with high growth potential that had promising prospects of scaling up their operations through increasing sales, product upgrades and improvement in production processes.
“These should lead to a generally improved business operating culture among Ghanaian SMEs, thereby enhancing competition and growth.
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“It should also serve as a working capital for businesses to undertake expansion of existing products or services to cater for a large market and pay the cost of technical advisory services for commercial investment attraction activities,” Mrs Mensah added.
The Central Regional Chamber also advocated for a national youth entrepreneurship drive and technical and vocational education training to spark the needed technological innovation to accelerate development.
Additionally, areas of competitive and comparative advantage must be given all the necessary backing to reduce the over-reliance on cheap imports, causing the balance of payment challenges.
In separate interviews with some players in the MSMEs sector, they called on the government to institute measures to reduce interest rates on loans, utility tariffs and the cost of rent in Ghana.
They could not fathom why inflation had been consistently low, yet prices of goods and services kept rising as the cedi depreciated, resulting in the rising cost of imports.
