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By Jesse Ampah Owusu \u00a0<\/p>\n
Accra, Nov. 17, GNA \u2013 Mr Alex Frimpong, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Employers\u2019 Association, has urged the Government to increase its financial support to local industries in the 2023 Budget to mitigate the \u201cdire\u201d economic challenges local industries faced.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said that would help boost the capacity of local industries and enhance local productivity and income generation in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Frimpong said this on the sidelines of the Ghana Employers\u2019 Association forum on the 2023 budget statement and economic policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said when local industries were well positioned financially to thrive, Government would in turn generate adequate revenue from them for national development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can do that, we will be able to solve over 60 per cent of our economic challenges. This will save us a lot of pressure from the current forex challenges we face,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Frimpong urged the Government to automate and digitalise its revenue mobilisation process to make it seamless and effective.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said the Government needed to improve its revenue collection and mobilisation, saying, the only way was to effectively digitalise the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also called on Government to review the benchmark value policy to cover goods that were not produced locally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Kenneth Koomson, Deputy Secretary General, Ghana Federation of Labour, said the Government needed to subsidise the high cost of utility, especially fuel. \u00a0<\/p>\n
He cautioned Government against the introduction of new taxes or measures that already burdened the ordinary person, urging it to provide tax cuts and exemptions for businesses to thrive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment needs to protect local business through these measures to enable them to survive the current economic turbulence and provide jobs to the teeming youth,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Koomson said the 2023 budget should be more \u201crealistic\u201d and responsive to the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian.\u00a0<\/p>\n
GNA\u00a0<\/p>\n