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Some dealers in spare parts, mechanics and other workers at the Siwido Garage (Kokompe) in Cape Coast have expressed high expectations from the first budget statement of the new administration, hoping for a revived economy with favourable business policies.
The budget is expected to be presented to Parliament in Accra on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. When the Ghana News Agency visited the garage on Monday, the workers lamented the debilitating impact of the economic downturn on their businesses and personal lives, calling for an urgent reversal of the situation.
Inflation, high exchange rates and unfriendly taxes had been their greatest nemesis, they said, hoping for a more beneficial business climate. Mr Thomas Danquah, a car accessories seller, observed that businesses had been unprecedentedly slow with customers barely buying anything due to the economic hardship.
He said prices went up virtually every day for which reason people could not afford the items. “It is not our fault because we cannot sell the items cheaply and make losses. And so, we are pleading with the government to bring down the price of the dollar to drive the prices of our items down to make life easier for all of us,” he said.
He appealed for the introduction of soft loans for businesses as well as the removal of all nuisance taxes to enable them to raise enough money to honour their tax and rent obligations. “We accept that no government will put money in our pockets, but we expect them to fix the economy so that we can take care of ourselves and our families,” he added.
Mr Isaac Kwesi Bonsu, an auto electrician and dealer in car batteries, corroborated the account of his colleagues, complaining bitterly over the incessant inflation and how it was killing the business. “Prices keep soaring every day and so we are appealing to government to everything within its to bring down inflation.
“Quite often, customers come to make enquiries and never return because they find the items too expensive. This is our only means of survival and we are hoping the budget will be that provides a clear plan to rescue us,” he said. For Mr Solomon Mensah, a spare parts dealer, he is expecting to hear a practical remedy to the exchange rate crisis from the Finance Minister before he ends his presentation.
He called for the removal of all unreasonable taxes on the spare parts and entreated government to cast the tax net wider to ensure more citizens paid taxes. “That way, government can raise more revenue, but the expenditure must be transparent to encourage more citizens to pay their taxes,” he added. Mr John Kwadwo Afful, a mechanic, was more concerned about the poor state of some roads in the region which he said contributed to the ruining of the cars.
He therefore appealed to government to factor the roads in the region in the budget, while urging them to fulfil every manifesto promise they made to the business community. With sports betting being his additional source of income, Mr Albert Quansah, another mechanic, pleaded with the Finance Minister to repeal it as promised.
Having won the 2024 election with an unprecedented landslide victory, a heavy responsibility of fixing the economy and restoring hope burdens the shoulders of the government as citizens’ expectations soar high above the roof.
Source: GNA
