Tourism Ministry, NBSSI begin talks on modalities for GH¢600m soft loans

Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi has said a meeting has been arranged with the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) to outline the modalities for the disbursement of GH¢600 million in soft loans.

This follows an announcement by government to allocate the amount for small and medium scale enterprises that may have been forced to fold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at a stakeholder engagement Mrs. Oten-Gyasi said; “The government is working very hard to support the sector because they recognize the importance of the tourism sector to the economy. And the initial support which has come in from government being the GH¢600 million support has been dedicated to the small and medium enterprises sector because they recognize that you are really suffering and you need that support to thrive”

“So, we are going to engage the National Board for Small Scale Enterprise which will be at the forefront of the disbursement of this facility. We are going to have them to take you through the processes that you need to go through in order to access that facility so that in the interim even as we are waiting for the major interventions for the sector from the government after COVID-19, you will have some support during this very difficult period,” she added.

Meanwhile, Director for Research at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) Prof. Peter Quartey has warned the country is likely to suffer a severe recession if the coronavirus pandemic persists.

He, however, believes the stimulus package by government for small and medium scale enterprises must be targeted at tax compliant business if the move is to see fruition.

Emphasizing the need for a credible data to maximize this measure, Prof. Quartey earlier said; “If you don’t file taxes and do the needful and you complete the form then you don’t qualify. That should be a lesson to Ghanaian businesses.”

“I think it’s about time we moved away from this informality of people not respecting the country’s laws and lack of enforcement. They should put things in place to ensure that it’s only those that file their tax returns benefit,” he suggested.