By: Edzorna Francis Mensah
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism Carlos Ahenkorah has appealed to Traders to consider letting down prices of goods which they did in time past to cushion Ghanaians at this moment of economic hardship.
Mr. Ahenkorah made this known when Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism held a meeting with major Trade Unions in the country to brainstorm and come up with practical and immediate solutions to address the ongoing economic challenges.
”The Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism has become aware of the difficult economic circumstances that businesses are experiencing’, Mr. Ahenkorah pointed out.
The meeting which took place in Parliament on Tuesday 15th November, 2022 was attended by officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ghana Association of Industries (A.G.I), Ghana Chamber of Commerce (G.C.C.) and Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (G.U.T. A).
President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Dr Humphrey Kwesi Ayim-Darke, in his submission said key missing links in solving Ghana’s economic woes were policy formulation and coordination. He suggested that an Economic Unit within Parliament aid Coordination and avoid duplications in having a well-knit framework for a strong policy.
To him, an inter-agency coordination would help streamline and properly evaluate the challenges.
For instance, Dr. Ayim-Darke said the deregulation policy in the petroleum policy has not achieved its intended result due to lack of coordination.
He called for an industrial law that will insist on zero rating (no taxes) on all raw materials imported into the country that will aid in value addition as many of the speakers say, an industrialization to reduce the excessive importation of almost everything.
“There must be an interplay between the economic committee and key sectors because there’s so much revenue out there that once we deploy efficient technology we can rake in the needed domestic revenues and correct all the physical issues relating to the forex,” he said.
The Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA) for instance proposed that 70 per cent of profits should be kept in forex, while, the remaining 30 per cent maintained in local currency for reinvestment.
According to Dr. Obeng, the current investment law allows foreigners to come into the business space without any hindrance which derails local manufacturing industries and kills initiatives.
“Subsequently, we call for an amendment to the investment laws regarding foreigners in the retail market,” he mentioned.
“Our economy is suffering and we must not open our doors wide for foreigners to only bring in any goods there by putting pressure on our limited forex,” he said.
“It should be a take it or leave policy and I can tell you, they will not go away, looking at the huge profit they make,” the president of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng, told the Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism on Tuesday on finding solutions to the country’s ailing economy.
According to them the current exchange rate was eroding capital and making local companies noncompetitive as they called for a cut on the importation of rice and encourage local production citing the Nigerian example.
The Unions in the economy have called for “a profit retention policy” to regulate how much foreign investors repatriate to their home countries as one of the measures of stabilizing the cedi depreciation and re-energizing the economy for growth.
This, they contended, called for a stringent law by parliament to help reshape and structure the economy.
“If we are not careful, it will get to a time that with money we may not have access to rice because of inadequate forex to import them,” one said.
The Deputy Minister of Trade, Michael Okyere Baafi, said the country’s challenges called for an all-hands-on-desk attitude to resolve the challenges.
The Deputy Trade Minister, Michael Okyere Baafi, assured the Government to bring down high inflation and deal with the forex in order to reduce the stress the industry players are going through.
