The Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has said, the current state of the economy is not business friendly according to the Chairman, Tony Oppong.

He said this in a conversation with Omanhene Adu Boakye on Sompa Tv morning show.

According to the branch chairman, the covid-19 influx has had a direct impact on the world economy which is affecting business across the world especially Ghanaian business men.

He stated that the depreciation of the cedis against major currencies is outrageous which is collapsing business.

He reminded the government on the institutional importers who import foreign products into the country as culprits of the collapse of businesses

 “We also want to remind the Government that the big-time institutional importers, especially, those who serve as conduits for dumping goods mainly from China are the culprits,”

BACKGROUND

The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has raised an alarm over plummeting cedi value and its effect on businesses.

In a statement, GUTA stated that “the depreciation of the cedi against other major trading currencies is getting out of hand, and the increase in the monetary policy rate is also leading to high lending rate in the country.”

According to GUTA, as a result of the depreciation, businesses have reached a situation where their survival is seriously threatened if no immediate action is taken by the Government to find a solution.

“It could be recalled that since December 2021 when the dollar was 6.4 cedis, our working capitals have been depleted by 40%. Now that, the dollar has reached about 9.00 cedis, our worst fear is that we are now going to make Christmas orders from our suppliers, which may aggravate the situation.

“We also want to remind the Government that the big-time institutional importers, especially, those who serve as conduits for dumping goods mainly from China are the culprits,” GUTA noted.

GUTA, therefore, called on the government to “as a matter of urgency, reconvene the Foreign Exchange Committee that was set up a few years ago by the Finance Ministry which involved all relevant stakeholders, to help find an immediate solution.”

According to GUTA, “If immediate remedial measures are not taken to control this alarming situation, we may be using One Million Ghana cedis to buy only One Hundred Thousand US dollars when the dollar reaches 10.00 Ghana cedis.”

“At this point in time, if nothing is done, speculations would be rife and serious panic will set in for people to invest in forex as a matter of security for their hard-earned working capital, thereby making control of such a situation difficult for the government,” they added.

Source…www.sompaonline.com/Eric Murphy Asare