We’re not waiting for 60 days to make made-in-Ghana goods affordable – AGI

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) says it is not waiting for a 60-day window to make made-in-Ghana products affordable to consumers, following recent macroeconomic improvements.

However, the Association said the 60-day request, made during a meeting with the Trade Minister last week, was to ensure a full implementation of a gradual process that manufacturers had started towards reducing prices.

Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AGI, called for sustained stability in inflation and lower monetary policy and exchange rates to enable local manufacturers to produce at cost-effective rates to make their goods cheaper.

“We’re not waiting for 60 days to reduce prices, what we’re saying is that by that time, the lower prices in our products will be fully reflected on the market,” Mr Twum-Akwaboah told the Ghana News Agency on Friday.

He was answering a question as to whether the AGI would stick to a joint request with the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA) to reduce prices of goods and services in 60 days, following the cedi’s appreciation and overall macroeconomic gains.

“Our members have already started reducing prices, and manufacturing is often done within a 90-day cycle, and we’ve already done a month. So, in the next 60 days, the new production will be based on the new exchange rate and reduced prices,” he said.

Mr Twum-Akwaboah urged the Government to sustain the cedi’s appreciation against its major trading currencies; [dollar, Euro and Pound Sterling], reduce electricity tariffs, and lower monetary policy rate to ease interest on loans from commercial banks.

“When the macroeconomic environment is stable, businesses can plan, expand, and employ more people,” he said.

Similarly, Dr Joseph Obeng, the President, Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA), have said traders were willing to make prices of goods affordable to consumers.

“Prices have started responding and we are duty-bound to respond to any gains, especially this particular one, which is substantial, and we have to share it with the consumer,” he said.

“All that we need is for the government to continue its good work by ensuring that we have a sustained stability,” he said, calling for reform to the Value Added Tax (VAT) to further cushion traders.

Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, Finance Minister, said earlier this month that the Government was addressing structural issues like port charges, levies, and smuggling “because we understand how these factors impact prices.”

He appealed to traders to lower the prices to give the consuming public some relief on the back of recent ease in macroeconomic pressures.

Last Wednesday, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, engaged the leadership of AGI and GUTA on the need to reduce prices of goods and services, while pledging the government’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

She said that was fair to enable businesses transfer part of their dividends of the macroeconomic stability to customers when the opportunity came.

“We are all working together as a country so that the cost of living will reduce,” she said.

Source: GNA

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