By Morkporkpor Anku, GNA
Accra, Oct. 06, GNA – The Ghana Employer’s Association (GEA) has called for rigorous enforcement of banking regulations to restore confidence and sanity to the sector.
Mr. Daniel Acheampong, its new President, asked that the Bank of Ghana (BOG) – the regulator, did everything to make sure that there was strict adherence to good corporate governance guidelines.
This required regular, timely and robust supervision – to pick early warning signals and to act prevent any potential threats to the industry.
He was speaking at the Association’s 58th annual general meeting held in Accra, under the theme: “Democratic Governance Sustainable Business Growth”.
It provided the platform to review activities of the association over the past year and to discuss the way forward.
Mr. Acheampong labelled the banking sector as the “central nervous system” of the economy of every country and that the success or otherwise of businesses was largely dependent on its support.
“Therefore, any negative development in this sector that tends to undermine the flow of financial oxygen to businesses becomes a matter of concern,” he added.
He said the GEA was aware of government’s initiatives to address some of the challenges facing the business community, something they found refreshing.
He applauded the bold steps the government was taking to ensure that the nation derived greater value from its natural resources - gold, cocoa and bauxite through high end, value addition under a rigorous export-led strategy.
The GEA President said one critical dividend employers expected to reap was a stable macroeconomic environment “that eases the cost of doing business on sustainable basis”.
He said by far, the greatest challenge facing employers in the country was the high interest rate averaging between 25 and 35 per cent.
This was making it quite difficult for them to access loans to expand their businesses.
He also complained about the depreciating rate of the cedi against the major currencies and that remained a major headache for, especially those who relied on imported raw materials for their operations.
He said “this tends to increase their production costs and adversely affect the competitiveness of businesses in the country” adding that, it was unhelpful to their efforts at creating sustainable jobs.
He raised concern about the influx of counterfeit goods and called on the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and other state agencies, to deal decisively with it.
Mr. Carlos Ahenkorah, a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, praised the members of the association for working hard to create jobs.
He said the government was working aggressively to sustain businesses on the path of growth.
They were committed to making Ghana the most business-friendly country in the sub-region.
He said the government had outlined a 10-point agenda to transform the industrial sector of the economy to create job opportunities and bring prosperity to the people.
GNA
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