GUTA Calls For Workable Stimulus Package Committee

The Ghana Union of Traders’ Associations (GUTA) has called for the institution of a committee involving all relevant stakeholders to discuss and come up with a workable plan for distributing government’s stimulus package.

The Association said it had become necessary as there were no stakeholder engagement to discuss and advise the government on how best its stimulus package for the informal trading sector and the small scale industries could be effectively managed to serve its intended purpose.

The government, in its quest to salvage business in the country as part of the measures to curb economic hardship in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, announced a one billion Ghana Cedi stimulus package for the informal trading sector and the small scale industries on Friday, March 27.

A statement signed by Dr Joseph Obeng, GUTA President and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s first statement on the stimulus package indicated that the fund would be disbursed through Trade Associations and the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).

It indicated that Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, the Chief Executive Officer of the NBSSI stated that she was expecting about 200,000 businesses to access the fund.

This, the statement added that would strike an average threshold of GHC3, 000.00 per a beneficiary, “which is grossly inadequate”.

It said the statement of the NBSSI CEO fell short of disclosing the modalities and specific target groups for the disbursement as well as the threshold and interest rates involved.

The statement said it was important to alert the government that the announcement of the stimulus package had generated a lot of interests and expectations among greater majority in the business community.

It said: “Government should consider this fact, engage with us to think through the entire package.”

Source: GNA