Economy Improvement Boosts Business Confidence – AGI

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has commended government for providing a stable economy for businesses to operate.

According to the Association, business confidence in the country has improved as the economy experiences some stability.

At a business seminar organized by the One District One Factory Secretariat at the Trade Fair Centre on Friday, the President of the Association, Dr. Yaw Adu Gyamfi, in a speech read on his behalf, said a barometer survey they conducted proved that the confidence level of doing business is on the rise.

“We have been doing a survey called the AGI barometer survey and this is a survey to gage the mood of the business community about the business environment. We monitored it last year and we noticed that the confidence level of doing business is coming up,” he stressed.

He mentioned that although the confidence in doing business has improved, there are some challenges facing industrial companies.

The challenging area for industrial companies, according to him, is getting access to medium to long-term capital.

He urged government to deal with financial issues to encourage industries expand their business to the districts.

“This has always been an issue. As for the short term facilities I am sure there has been significant improvements. If we really want to do 1D1F and go to the districts and establish businesses and all that the financial issues has to be dealt with,” he said.

The business seminar dubbed, “Financing the 1D1F Policy, The Role of 1D1F, Participating Financial Institutions and Entrepreneurs” was organized to enable entrepreneurs, developers and investors connect with various sources of funding available in the banks.

Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) at the seminar, restated their commitment to support the One District One Factory project.

The bank has allocated GH¢1 billion to support the project.

They have also designed a special package for customers operating under the initiative and these include the creation of a dedicated unit, partnering a number of respected consultants to provide the needed advisory services to make business proposals from prospective investors bankable.

This, according to the bank, was critical if this initiative was to become successful.

By: Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum/ [email protected]