Economy Facing Tough Times!

Since the beginning of the year, a lot of Ghanaians have complained about the harsh economic conditions in the country. While industry operators and stakeholders in the country�s import sector have complained about the increases in taxes and utility tariffs and the untold hardship on the populace, President John Mahama has continuously assured the citizenry that his administration would do everything possible to improve their lives. Some importers, noted that even though they would incur losses, they would pass the cost onto consumers. They indicated that the depreciation of the cedi was adversely affecting their operations since they had to sell to their customers on credit basis. �To buy a dollar, more cedis have to be spent and so we have to keep adjusting prices. Joseph Wilson, an importer at Tema noted: �It is also clear that the fortnightly review of the prices of petroleum products by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the monthly automatic tariff adjustment regime being enforced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) are worsening our plight. The Ghana cedi has lost its value to the major foreign trading currencies. Commercial banks lately have also complained about the limited supply of US dollars from the Central Bank onto the market. But the Bank of Ghana indicated that it had released a total of $20 million onto the market this week. Reacting to the announcement, commercial banks described the amount supplied as minimal since they need more dollars to transact business on behalf of their customers. They added that the impact of the supply of dollars had not been felt by the business community. Meanwhile, analysts have argued that the Central Bank should make it difficult for people to hold huge amounts of dollars in their accounts going forward.