President of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), Clement Osei Amoako, has called on government to relook at stimulus packages intended for businesses to grow.
According to him, the growth of these businesses will trickle down to the government in the form of taxes accrued.
Speaking at the Chamber’s CEO business forum to discuss ‘Business resilience and sustainability’, the GNCCI boss revealed that the business community is ready to support government’s economic revitalisation programme.
“The support for the private sector and for that matter the SMEs were not enough. Monies though we are aware, were distributed by some state organisations to support some, were woefully inadequate. What people were asking for, they couldn’t get it. So, it means that if you don’t get the right amount to move up your business; there’s the possibility you might even consume the money.
“So, we are looking at it in a situation where going forward, after we have had our meeting and we have identified some of the weaknesses then we will build upon it and make sure that government looks at it again and see how they can give them some stimulus package to survive as done by some of the bigger economies. When you go to the US and other big nations, I think that they have… given some monies out to support industries to grow. Because we know the industries are well placed and they are doing well, the government will benefit even more than industries. The reason being that, they will create jobs, government will take tax and even take profit tax and doing this, is in support of the nation. I think that, we would have to look at it going forward”.
Addressing business challenges
Furthermore, the GNCCI boss cited some challenges encountered by businesses, by revealing that “some have managerial deficiency”. This he explained, warrants as “reason for their business also not doing well”.
“So, we are also building their capacity alongside, also to prepare them. At this time, whatever the discussion that we have here today, we will [bring] people together all over the real sectors.
“Whatever decision that we take here today; we are going to put them down and look at the ministries that are supposed to be contacted to resolve them. So that businesses can rebound back as a result of the COVID effect”.
Additionally, the GNCCI boss underscored the response of the Trade Ministry in helping alleviate the plight of businesses.
“The Minister for trade also mentioned the support that they gave when we had the COVID. What I saw was that, most of them were consumption based, the utility services, food etc. just to keep us surviving. I think that should be the first motive”.
Businesses urged to take advantage of tax rebates
Meanwhile, Head of markets and advisory at KPMG Ghana, Andy Akoto has advised businesses to take advantage of the various regulatory ease and policy by government to propel growth.
He revealed that, local businesses can also benefit from the various tax holiday and tax incentives.
“The trends point to businesses repositioning to look at more importantly how they are able to manage their cost and of course maximize their profits. Cost minimization, obviously because you need to find creative and innovative ways of being more efficient. Because the route to market would have changed. Therefore, you find a lot of businesses redefining their road to market [and] supply chain models to be able to reach their market in a more efficient way to maximize efficiency.
“Then we are also talking about the fact that, they also need to be able to watch out for some of the policy initiatives and reliefs being provided by government, other regulatory agencies and bodies”.
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