The Ghana Union of Traders Association, GUTA, is appealing to shop owners who have rented their spaces to traders to consider suspending rent payment as businesses equally bear the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to GUTA, even though its members have paid advanced rent to use the shops, the lockdown and the accompanying challenges of COVID-19 has brought business to a standstill.
Earlier this week, GUTA made a similar suggestion to government to compel banks to defer loan payments or reduce interest rates on loans.
The President of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng, told Citi Business News shop owners and landowners must meet traders half way by suspending rent payments for the periods of inactivity to lessen their burden.
“We are not in normal times. We are in a period of sacrifices and people should be able to look through this and then all of us can solve this problem. This time it’s not the fault or the negligence of your client, so they should all put a human face to this and also make some sacrifices. It shouldn’t be like only the government is doing all these things; but we should all join hands, so that at the end of the day, most of us will not run into bankruptcy,” he said.
COVID-19: Akufo-Addo announces GHS1bn stimulus package for businesses
As part of measures to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana to sustain businesses, President Akufo-Addo has already announced that all households and small to medium scale enterprises are to benefit from a stimulus package of one billion Ghana cedis.
According to him, this is part of the creation of a Coronavirus Alleviation Program to revive the country’s affected industries and address the distraction in economic activities caused by the pandemic.
It is however not yet clear how the support would be disbursed or implemented across the various sectors.