|
AGI urges banks to review rates to stimulate economic
growth
Tema, Oct. 20, GNA -- Tema branch of the Association of
Ghana Industries held its annual general meeting on Friday
at Tema with a call on financial institutions to review
their interest rates further down in order to stimulate
growth in the economy.
Mr Seth Quao, out-going chairman of the AGI made the appeal
in his report and said the review will also help in bringing
down the cost of doing business in the industries.
He said even though interest rates by the banks compared to
the recent past had reduced “we as industry still feel the
base rates between 18.45 and 21.45 percent by banks when
Bank of Ghana’s prime rate is at 12.5 percent is still too
high”.
Expressing concern about the influx of cheap foreign goods
on the local market, the AGI chairman said the association
is not against competition but then “the playing field is
not level”.
He cited an instance where Aluworks is facing stiff
competition from imported Aluminium Coils and Circles which
are being brought in under ETLS from Nigeria, even though
the origin is not from the ECOWAS region.
On the energy situation in the country, Mr Quao gave the
assurance of the association’s preparedness to pay realistic
tariffs but cautioned the Public Utility Regulatory
Commission (PURC) to ensure that, “the inefficiencies by the
service providers are not passed on to consumers”.
On the National Health Insurance Scheme, he said most of
their members were ready to process their staff to patronize
the scheme, however, they get discouraged because of low
tariffs offered by the Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) to
accredited private hospitals as compared to their
counterparts in Accra.
He indicated that government hospitals and clinics alone
cannot handle the scheme and called on the TMA to look at
the issue with urgency as “this has led to most of them
delaying going for the scheme”.
The association expressed concern about the yearly “Business
Operating Permit” charged by the TMA and urged it to
consider shelving the proposed increase of 15 percent permit
as most of the industries operate below full capacity due to
several constraints.
Mr Charles Y. Mensah, Executive Chairman of Myroc Food
Processing Limited said his company paid an annual BOP of 15
million cedis in addition to an annual payment of 18 million
cedis of property rate; however, payment varies from
companies.
Mr Quao appealed to the members of the association to pay
their annual dues promptly to enable the association to
operate effectively.
A five-member executive committee with Mr. Charles Y. Mensah
as the chairman was elected to serve a two year term of
office.
GNA
|
