Don't sacrifice the survival of private sector for IMF bailout - Business community warns govt

The private sector, they say is the engine of every economy but this sector has in the past years complained of unfavourable working environment in the country.

Amidst the high cost of doing business in Ghana, the introduction of taxes are some of the major problems of the trading community.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, the President of Ghana Union of Traders Association, Dr Joseph Obeng, called on government to rescind its decision to trade the survival and development of the private sector to the Bretton Woods institution as part of the US$3 billion bailout programme.

He averred that the efforts of the IMF to support the growth of the Ghanaian economy will amount to nothing if it ends up destroying local businesses.

In his view, government should rather create an enabling environment for the private sector businesses to grow.

"The private sector is the engine of growth of every economy, therefore, its importance cannot be over emphasized so the government should create an enabling environment that will ensure the growth and sustainability of the private sector, rather than over-taxing businesses out of their effectiveness," he said.

"The government should not sacrifice the survival and development of the private sector for the sake of the IMF programme. The efforts of the IMF to support our national economy will amount to nothing if it ends up destroying local businesses," Dr Joseph Obeng added.

It would be recalled that government on July 1, 2022, announced its decision to engage the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $3 billion financial bailout programme.

Subsequently, a team from the IMF arrived in the country from July 6 to July 13, 2022 to engage Ghanaian authorities for a possible economic support programme.

A staff-level agreement between Government of Ghana and IMF was however reached in December 2022.

The IMF programme, according to government is aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and safeguarding debt sustainability among many others.

Meanwhile, the IMF has assigned Leonard Chumo as Resident Advisor to Bank of Ghana.



ESA/MA