Let’s adopt strategies to promote SME growth -Prof. Aryeetey
A Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Emeritus Ernest Aryeetey, has called for a holistic strategy to addressing the challenges facing Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) in order to promote their growth.
According to him, finance was not the only challenge militating against the growth of SMEs, and the government must come out with broad-based initiatives to address the numerous factors limiting the growth of SMEs.
Speaking at the second edition of the Quarterly Economic Roundtable (QER) in Accra yesterday, Emeritus Professor Aryeetey said lack of innovation, poor infrastructure, high taxation, laborious regulatory processes and poor management structures were some of the other challenges facing SMEs.
Organised by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in collaboration with the Institute of Social Statistics and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana and the International Financial Corporation (IFC).
The event, aimed at addressing the country’s economic challenges, and bridging the gap between policy makers and academia brought together top government officials, economists, industry experts, and students.
Speaking on the topic, ‘Driving Economic Growth through Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs),’ Emeritus Prof. Aryeetey stated that SMEs were the driving force of economies.
He indicated that SMEs constituted about 90 per cent of businesses in the country and contributed about 70 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
The Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, who delivered the keynote address explained that the QER was meant to discuss measures to prop up and enhance the growth of the economy to bring relief to the citizens.
He said the QER had been a huge success and the feedback had been inspiring.
Dr Adam further underlined that the Ministry of Finance was implementing some of the proposals made during the first edition of the QER, particularly relating to fiscal discipline and strengthening of the SME sector.
He disclosed that the Ministry of Finance would send a bill to Parliament before the end of year to pass into law which would put a limit on the loans government could borrow in a year to control country’s debt.
Dr Adam said the country was on the path of growth and stability, saying “Economy is back stronger.”
He then noted that the 2024 first half year growth of 5.8 per cent was the highest in five years, adding that the first half year growth was 0.4 percentage points higher than the 2019 growth rate.
Dr Adam also revealed that the future growth could not be guaranteed without the right measures and that was the reason the government had introduced the SME-GO programme to support SMEs in the country and the second edition of the QER which was focusing on SMEs.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Nana Aba
Appiah Amfo, commended the Ministry of Finance for the programme, saying the vision to integrate academic knowledge into policy planning was commendable.
She said the programme aligned with the University’s objective of promoting research and partnership, stressing Legon was home to thought leaders who were ready to support the country’s development.
Kyle Kelhofer Senior, Country Manager for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone of IFC, for his part stated that the IFC was promoting private sector investment to promote the growth of the Ghanaian economy.
He mentioned that IFC was giving $400 million to support SME-GO programme.
Mr Kelhofer indicated that driving economic growth required the support of all stakeholders and lauded the Ministry of Finance for organising the programme.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
