As Finance Minister Seth Terkper prepares to present a supplementary budget today, the Private Enterprise Federation (PEF) has called on government to fix macroeconomic indicators such as inflation and interest rates to provide some respite for businesses.
Businesses in recent times have expressed disquiet about high cost of funds as well as unreliable power supply which is collapsing many enterprises.
Speaking to Citi Business News in an interview, the Chief Executive Officer of PEF, Nana Osei-Bonsu lamented that businesses are going through the same challenges witnessed last year during the power crisis.
“From a cursory look of things; things have not done well. It hasn’t change much from the previous 2015 so businesses are still suffering. Inflation is still high, cost of borrowing is still high” he said.
He pointed out that businesses are now suffering and recording losses due to the power challenges.
“Like I said businesses are suffering due to the dumsor. What is happening now is not different from what we saw in 2015. There has been no improvement. We want the government to focus on that and fix the challenges,” he said.
Mr. Osei-Bonsu was of the view that calls to get the Ministry of Power to release a load shedding time table was needles since it is not the most important solution now.
“Look, the media must focus on the critical issues. What is this demand for load shedding timetable? I think that is not what we need, we need solutions to the power challenges not some timetable telling me what time power will be cut,” he stressed.
He stated that even though the federation has not yet undertaken any research of the power crisis in the first six month of the year, indications from business owners show that enterprises are suffering.
He maintained that it is imperative for government to fix the challenges now while it gets some macroeconomic indicators such inflation and interest rates at low levels.
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By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
