Seth Twum-Akwaboah
The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has indicated that the rising cost of doing business is making the country lose out on its business attractiveness.
AGI Chief Executive, Seth Twum-Akwaboah, who disclosed this, said the ‘unfriendly tax regime’ faced by businesses was a contributory factor.
He said that compared to Ghana’s peers in the region, the country was the most expensive to do business in the sub-region.
“Some enterprises in their attempt to cut their cost of operations have had to move some of their operations outside the country so they can remain competitive as a business,” he announced.
Speaking to PM EXPRESS recently, he said “Ghana is quiet an expensive country in terms production and we are not improving that much,” adding that “some of these businesses have built a model where they can move their operations elsewhere, in terms of where it is cheap to do business.”
He continued that there was the need for the government to take a second look at some of its policy measures to help improve the business condition of the private sector.
Mr. Twum Akwaboah said industries were not asking for protectionism, but rather policies that would help in the growth of local manufacturing firms.”
This was because some firms have been forced to lay off workers as part of efforts to stay in business.
The AGI CE further said another factor that was affecting the operations of businesses was the cost of finance in the country adding that most enterprises were struggling because they could not afford the high cost of borrowing to sustain their operations.
According to him, some institutions that have been established to help lessen the cost of finance over the years have also not been helpful hence the situation.
BY Samuel Boadi