IMANI report reveals Ghana's bleak business environment

Policy think-tank, IMANI Center for Policy and Education, has released a report that paints a gloomy picture of the Ghana’s business environment.

According to the report, Ghanaian businesses are collapsing due to poor government policies that are suffocating businesses and stifling the growth of the business sector.

The report, which is authored in partnership with the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC) examined challenges in Ghana’s business sector between 2011 and Q1 of 2016.

The report also revealed there are massive gaps in the country’s micro-economic indicators that are working against economic growth.

Access to finance has been cited as a major challenge among four other problems businesses face in the country. Inflation, foreign currency regulations, taxation, and corruption are the other four challenges.

The cost of credit, according to the think tank, was a major challenge to businesses, corroborating World Bank figures that show that domestic credit to the private sector as a percentage of GDP has increased from 15.1 percent in 2011 to 20.3 percent in 2015.

the 2016 Budget presented to Parliament by Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, also shows that the growth of real private sector credit grew from 13.1 percent in 2013 to 26.6 percent in 2014 but fell to as low as 3.7 percent in 2015.

The report further revealed that even though some interventions such as the Export Trade, Agricultural and Industrial Development Fund provided credit to some manufacturers, some private sector funding initiatives, including the SME fund which aimed at providing credit, were not implemented because they were linked to the China Development Bank (CDB) loan which experienced hitches.

Founding President of IMANI, Franklyn Cudjoe, urged the government to prioritize the creation of opportunities that would develop the productive sectors of the economy.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN