86 percent of Ghanaian businesses not measured – Ahomka Lindsay

Ghana’s inability to stay among countries with the best economic reforms can be attributed to the inability to measure indigenous businesses, Deputy Trades Minister Robert Ahomka Lindsay has explained.

According to the Deputy Minister, 86 percent of Ghanaian owned businesses are not measured despite their long existence and interactions with consumers. He noted that it is difficult to manage the businesses and revenue generated by them since a good number of them are unregistered.

Mr. Ahomka Lindsay stressed that it is important to work on the country’s building blocks which he explained will affect the reform of the economy.

“…86 percent of our businesses are not measured. So they’re there, we know they’re there, we can see them, you and I engage with them every day of the week. But in the statistics it’s an estimate…. Of the ones that do actually go and register, about 90 plus percent of them are MSMEs(Micro and small businesses) which account for over 80 percent of our formalized manufacturing, employment and 70 percent of our GDP..” he explained

The Deputy Minister was speaking at the launch of programming on Business Environment Enablement Project by the Multimedia Group Limited.

Key stakeholders of the British High Commission and The Multimedia Group convened at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra to announce that starting on Wednesday, February 6th, Joy News, Joy FM, Adom TV, Adom FM would launch an hour-long, bi-weekly on-air conversation surrounding one of the following four topics:

1) Commercial Courts: Assessment of small claims procedures and pre-trial conference.

2) Customs: Assessment of the new paperless systems of clearing imports at Ghana Ports in Tema and Takoradi.

3) Tax: Assessment of the effectiveness of the Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) in tax administration in Ghana.

4) Business Registration: Assessment of business registration process for business start-ups.