The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has called on the government to adopt urgent measures aimed at reducing the cost of duty fees and other charges to help stabilize the prices of goods and services in the country.
Speaking on Plan B FM’s late afternoon show EBAANOSEN hosted by Ohene Kinnah, Mr Joseph Addy the Director of Communications said fees include transportation costs, shipping line charges, and utility tariff regimes have significantly impeded the ease of doing business.
He said that a statement issued by the Union on January 8, 2024, clarified that the trade body does not have control over pricing in a liberalized economy, as businesses have always been allowed to have autonomy to determine the prices of their goods and services.
“We want to state emphatically that the business community does not take delight in arbitrary increases in the prices of goods and services and that prices are usually determined by the accumulation of cost of doing business, which members of the business community have been complaining bitterly about all these years,” he clarified.
He stressed that the surest way to reduce and stabilize the price of goods and services is for policymakers to prune the cost of doing business in the country, in terms of the duty they pay, fees, and charges including shipping line charges, transportation, the increase in utility tariffs and more, he added.
Mr. Addy further called on the government and policymakers to address the high cost of doing business in the country as part of efforts to address general price stability.
Discussion about this post