Dr. Joseph Obeng, GUTA President
LEADERSHIP of the Ghana Traders Union Association (GUTA) has ordered all shop owners – both wholesale and retail – to close their shops on Monday, August 29, 2022 as a protest against the depreciation of the cedi, high inflation and interest rates among others.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday dubbed: ‘We are Bleeding to Death’, President of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng, explained that the decision was necessitated by “the rapid and continuous depreciation of the cedi, continuous rise in the interest rate and high inflation rate, among others,” which he noted have affected businesses woefully.
The effect of inflation, he underscored, has also drastically reduced consumers’ purchasing power and the inability of the consumer to buy or purchase more, all of which he went on, have affected business turnover.
Businesses, he said, can hardly service their loans to their banks as well as honour their suppliers’ credit.
“On these issues of depreciation, inflation and interest rates, we have talked, complained and made press statements, but the problems have worsened,” he lamented, adding that there have been a series of agitations from members of the trading community on the leadership to register their frustrations and desperations to the government to appreciate the extent to which they are suffering as a result of the depreciation of the cedi.
Dr. Obeng explained that the move therefore, was to let government know their plights, adding that “we cannot take it any longer.”
He said with the exchange rate currently standing at $1.00 to GH¢10; inflation rate at 31.7%; monetary policy rate at 22%; commercial lending rate of over 35%; VAT standard rate at 19.25% instead of a flat rate of 4%, plus the huge influx of foreigners in the retail business against our investment laws, with foreigners taking over the retail sectors as well as importation, there was the need for government to “do something about the situation as a matter of urgency.”
He gave the assurance that as good citizens of the land, GUTA and its members would always be ready to avail themselves to government for any policy direction aimed at saving the economy.
He urged the public not to blame the current economic hardship on traders as has been done by successive governments and some political adventurers who call traders all manner of names such as “kalabule”, profiteers, economic saboteurs, hoarders, recalcitrant and mischievous elements and thieves who do not care about the welfare of the Ghanaian people but themselves.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio