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