The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has reiterated calls for affordable credit facilities.
GUTA says as part of the budget reading on Friday, the trading community is hoping to have this among other concerns addressed.
The budget will be laid in Parliament on Friday, March 12, 2021, by the Majority Leader and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu for consideration and approval.
Last year Government through the National Board for Small Scale Industries set up a GHS600 million development programme known as the ‘Coronavirus Alleviation Program Business Support Schemes’ (CAPBuss).
The initiative is aimed at transforming the economy from its currents state and also cushion all sectors that have been hardly hit by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
However, Vice President of GUTA, Clement Boateng told Citi Business News that, even though most of its members who applied, have received their share, this is still not enough.
“As we are all aware, the impact of this COVID-19 on our businesses has been negative and that’s the reason why government in its own wisdom, came up with the CAPBuss which was administered by the NBSSI. However, GUTA has a membership of about 2 million countrywide and members who applied for these loans were about 15,000 and even though Government has tried, it’s still not enough. We think that some part of the ‘Ghana Cares’ loans should be specifically given to GUTA members,” Mr. Boateng lamented.
In October last year, Mr. Ofori-Atta presented the 2021 Expenditure in Advance Appropriation Budget and even though these concerns were not factored directly into it, GUTA believes this time the budget will be a true reflection on their concerns.
