Coronavirus: GH¢600m loan to MSMEs, other measures apt – IMANI

President of IMANI Ghana, Mr Franklin Cudjoe, has commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the enhanced measures to deal with the effect of the coronavirus on Ghanaian businesses and the economy in general.

Mr Akufo-Addo announced on Sunday April 5 in a broadcast to the nation that the Government, in collaboration with the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), Business & Trade Associations and selected Commercial and Rural Banks, will roll out a soft loan scheme up to a total of six hundred million cedis (GH¢600 million), which will have a one-year moratorium and two-year repayment period for micro, small and medium scale businesses.

He also said “An insurance package, with an assured sum of three hundred and fifty thousand cedis (GH¢350,000) for each health personnel and allied professional at the forefront of the fight, has been put in place, with a daily allowance of one hundred and fifty cedis (GH¢150) being paid to contact tracers.

“Government has also decided that all health workers will not pay taxes on their emoluments for the next three months, i.e. April, May and June.

“Furthermore, all frontline health workers will receive an additional allowance of fifty percent (50%) of their basic salary per month, i.e. for March, April, May and June.

“The March allowance will be paid alongside that of April. The Ministry of Transport is also making available, for free, ‘Aayalolo’ buses to convey health workers in Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Kasoa to and from work, along specific routes, for the entire duration of the restrictions.”

Reacting to this in a short statement, Mr Cudjoe said : “These are very commendable.”