Chief Executive Officer of Think Tank- Institute of Liberty and Policy Innovation( ILAPI) Peter Bismark Kwoffie has raised concerns over how government arrived at the GHC 600 million stimulus package for SME’.
According to the BSSI, its registered membership alone is about 200,000.
With this figure, an average of GHC 3,000 is the accessible amount for each business entity.
Mr Kwoffie contends that, there are other qualified businesses that also qualify to apply for the stimulus which is not under the umbrella of the BSSI.
He questions the impact of GHC 3,000 for a business entity that has even 10 staff on its payroll.
Explaining that, per the criteria for the disbursement, there is the possibility of some entity being supported with GHC 300 stimulus support which is negligible in the current economic environment.
Speaking in an interview on Ahotor 92.3 fm news, the ILAPI executive is of the opinion that, a minimum of GHC 1.2 billion should make an impact if a business is to have a boost in the covid-19 ravaged economy.
He explained that, a company with between 10 to 50 staff would need about a minimum of GHC 100,000 to even deal with its production cost for about 3 months since the partial lockdown till May.
Adding that, even though govt’s criteria of exclusion would not be effective since most Small and Medium Scale businesses could still meet the criteria, having in mind the over 180,000 business entities that can access the package.
It could be recalled that, as an economic effort to minimise the negative impact of covid-19 on businesses, govt set up a GHC 600million for SMEs under the NBSSI as a soft loan for applicants.
The loan comes with a year moratorium and 2 years for repayment and attracts 3%.
Apex bank and other Savings and Loans companies are expected to be the disbursement channels with the telecoms through their mobile money services.
Private schools unions have also petitioned government to ensure that, their members who have been highest hit by the closure of schools should have a substantial amount of the package.
Over 94,000 teachers are said to have lost their jobs due to the ban on social gathering affection the continued operation of schools.
ILAPI is therefore calling on government for reconsideration of its stimulus package if any success is to be made in maintenance of its staff and production.
Godfred Sey/ Ahotoronline.com
