It's costly to do business in Ghana - Dr Ackah

A senior fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research of the Unviversity of Ghana, Dr Charles Godfred Ackah, says the cost of conducting business in Ghana is too expensive and needs to change in order to attract foreign investments into the country.

Speaking at the 9th Lecture Series by the Centre for European Studies at the University of Ghana in Accra on Friday, October 18, 2019, Dr Ackah described the comparative difference between Ghana and other African countries when it comes to the cost of doing business as very discouraging.

“It’s cheaper to do business in Kenya than to do it in Ghana, A five-star hotel in Nairobi is cheaper than a three-star hotel in Ghana. Transportation is more expensive in Ghana even a trotro or to take a taxi or Uber. Everything is expensive even electricity is more expensive here than in many African countries.”

He said the situation is a challenge that needs urgent attention, as the costly nature of things such as fuel and rent in Ghana goes a long way to affect young people seeking to establish themselves after school.

“Businesses are struggling and therefore to bring investment in this country government needs to look at the business environment and reduce all the cumbersome way and the cost of nature in which we do business in Ghana.”

He added that the cost of obtaining credit to run a business in Ghana makes it near impossible to work with bank loans, as credit in Ghana is the most expensive in Africa. He said whiles businesses require long term financing at a very cheap cost, financial institutions in Ghana only provide credit to businesses at higher interest rates over short period of times.

He noted that even though banks such as the Agric Development Bank was established to provide long term development finance for businesses, their focus have changed and have now become universal banks that only provide credit on short terms at higher interest rates.

Mr Ackah called for a change in the current situation as a way of increasing the attractiveness of the country to foreign investors and as another way of growing local businesses.