Business Development and Services Director at the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Johnson Opoku Boateng, has decried the current lending rates in the country.
According to him, the lending rates makes it virtually impossible for businesses to successfully leverage on the AfCFTA.
His comments follow the upcoming Ghana Industrial Summit and Exhibition happening tomorrow, August 17, 2021.
“The factors that you look at when it comes to productivity and profitability are diverse. So, we are talking about cost of power, cost of capital, labor [and] even the environment within which investments are done. The policy rate has consistently dropped to about 13.5% from a high of close to 22% or so, some few years ago. But if you look at the lending rates from the banks, it is still not attractive”.
“In so many companies that appears across the region, we are having single digit interest rates. How do we compete with those people when we are still having 20% to 21% or 23% lending rates in Ghana?”
Johnson Opoku Boateng
Roping in financial sector to aid businesses
The AGI Business Development and Services Director further called on various financial institutions across the country to support local businesses in the hope of benefiting from the single trading market.
“So, the situation, I believe, when you look at the AfCFTA, across what we have in the financial sector, if, the banks are going to support industries in Ghana, they’re going to put us on the right footing to be able to be competitive in this single market of about 1.2 billion people and over $3.4 trillion in GPD.
“So, these are the things that we are looking for, that’s why we are inviting the banks to come and tell us how innovative they want to be to help industries actually make it in this single market”.
Johnson Opoku Boateng
Touching on whether businesses are ready to control the single market, Mr Opoku Boateng explained that “we are in a good position to leverage the AfCFTA”.
“But obviously, we have challenges in terms of the knowledge gap as to where we are in terms of the AfCFTA and where we’re going. That is the reason why we’re having this summit to actually explain to our team [and] companies as to what it entails and how they could leverage this single market”.
Johnson Opoku Boateng
Rebound of businesses in spite of pandemic
Furthermore, he explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on businesses.
That notwithstanding, he highlighted that businesses are on the verge of rebound, albeit rather slowly.
“We’ve gone through a very difficult one year. Industries are now recovering from the COVID and the Ghana Enterprises Agency has actually rolled out an intervention for SMEs just in the past one month, which is undergoing evaluation. At this moment, I will say that, industries are now recovering from the impact of the COVID and the COVID hasn’t actually abated. So, it is very important for us to understand that businesses are in a position to rebound. But obviously the challenges that they are facing with COVID will also have to abate to create the needed environment for the success that we are all looking for”.
Johnson Opoku Boateng
The theme for the three days program is: ‘Repositioning Ghanaian Industries to Leverage the AfCFTA’.
The program, Mr Opoku Boateng noted, brings in expert individuals and personalities from across the businesses and financial spectrum to deliberate on how businesses can take advantage of the AfCFTA.
“We are having diverse groups of people to come and speak to us… We believe that it’s going to be a wonderful three days event that’s going to lead industries to the right direction regarding this single market”.
Johnson Opoku Boateng
Read Also: Ghana Industrial Summit & Exhibition to commence on August 17
