Gov’t to assist SMEs

The Minister of Private Sector Development (PSD) and Public-Private Partnership (PPP), Dr Rashid Pelpuo, has assured Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) of government’s support to boost the sector.

Dr Pelpuo said the contribution of SMEs to the economy was enormous as the sector accounts for over 90 per cent of registered businesses in the country. According to him, government will institute measures to unearth growth and employment opportunities in the sector.

The Wa Central MP made the announcement at the launch of the first edition of the SMEs Financing Fair in Accra on Tuesday 19 January, 2015.

The Fair will take place on 16 and 17 March 2016 at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) on the theme: ‘SME Financing in Ghana – Enhancing Access and Reducing Cost’.

Dr Pelpuo admitted that the current interest rates and limited credit access pose challenges to the growth of SMEs, hence the organisation of the Fair, to bring together banks, government officials, multilateral agencies, and other stakeholders to provide innovative financing mechanisms that could serve as a solution.

On his part, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Murtala Mohammed, stressed on the importance of SMEs to the development of the nation and indicated that the Fair would toughen the private-public partnership bond. He said this will result in several opportunities to contribute to the growth of the nation.