Doing Business No Longer Attractive In Ghana – GUTA

The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has bemoaned the high cost of doing business which they say, is making business frustrating and unattractive to citizens in the country.

This is according to the Deputy National Public Relations Officer, Mr. Albert Offei Mensah who was speaking in an interview on Opemsuo News.

He lamented the fact that it is becoming highly expensive and difficult doing business in Ghana due to the numerous taxes imposed on traders by the government.

“In fact, traders in this country are suffocating. Business is no longer attractive in this country. Look at the number of taxes on goods, we have been talking about it many times but they are not listening to us”.

For him, “the most appalling taxes are the Covid-19 Recovery Levy and the Special Import Levy”.

“Currently there is no Covid, so why are we paying for something that doesn’t exist?”

“This is why GUTA is calling on the government to remove some of these taxes. It is the reason why prices of commodities are so high in this country and we need to do something about it”, he noted.

GUTA has therefore mounted pressure on the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta to scrap some taxes including the 1% Covid-19 Recovery Levy and the 2% Special Import Levy ahead of the presentation of the 2024 Budget Statement expected next month.

“In the 2024 budget, we expect that the government will remove these and reduce some others to make cost of doing business less expensive”.

Mr. Albert Offei threatened that “if they don’t listen to us, we will advise ourselves accordingly”.

He told Opemsuo News they have already engaged the Finance Minister on their grievances including the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) ahead of the budget presentation which he noted the Minister appeared reluctant to accommodate their suggestions.

Story by George Addo