Alex Frimpong, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Employers’ Association, has urged government to increase its financial support to local industries in the 2023 budget to mitigate the dire economic challenges local industries faced.

He said that would help boost the capacity of local industries and enhance local productivity and income generation in the country.

Mr Frimpong said this on the sidelines of the Ghana Employers’ Association forum on the 2023 budget statement and economic policy.

He said when local industries were well positioned financially to thrive, Government would in turn generate adequate revenue from them for national development.

“If we can do that, we will be able to solve over 60 per cent of our economic challenges. This will save us a lot of pressure from the current forex challenges we face,” he added.

Mr Frimpong urged the Government to automate and digitalise its revenue mobilisation process to make it seamless and effective.

He said the government needed to improve its revenue collection and mobilisation, saying, the only way was to effectively digitalise the process.

He also called on government to review the benchmark value policy to cover goods that were not produced locally.

Mr Kenneth Koomson, Deputy Secretary General, Ghana Federation of Labour, said the Government needed to subsidise the high cost of utility, especially fuel.

He cautioned government against the introduction of new taxes or measures that already burdened the ordinary person, urging it to provide tax cuts and exemptions for businesses to thrive.

“Government needs to protect local business through these measures to enable them to survive the current economic turbulence and provide jobs to the teeming youth,” he added.

Mr Koomson said the 2023 budget should be more “realistic” and responsive to the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian.