The Ghana Union of Trad­ers’ Association (GUTA) has expressed concern about exchange rates being tied to duties at the country’s ports.

According to the Union, the practice had been the cause of inflation in the country because the moment the exchange rate went up; prices of goods were also affected.

The Union, therefore, urged the government not only to do some­thing about it, but also remove certain taxes such as COVID-19 and Special Import Levies which were contributing to the decline in businesses.

The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the GUTA, Anthony Oppong, who said these on the sideline of an intensive training for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) here, pointed out that businesses were going down “as most of us are at the verge of giving up”.

The training was organised by Access Bank in collaboration with Deloitte Ghana under the theme, “SME Financial Empowerment: An Imperative for Business Resil­ience”, with about 500 SMEs in attendance.

They were taken through records keeping, growing business, tax obligations in Ghana’s corporate governance, among others.

Oppong said, “Our problem is finances, because at the risk of the exchange rate going high, most of us have lost our capitals making things very difficult,” he indicat­ed, as he reiterated the call on the government to remove COVID-19, and Special Import levies.

Thompson Apam, Ashanti Regional Manager of the As­sociation of Ghana Industries, mentioned the improvement of tax education, especially on with­holding tax, explaining that many people, including SMEs, did not understand the concept of with­holding tax.

He urged government to do something about the multiplicity of taxes as businesses were collapsing gradually.

Earlier, Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf, admitted the economy had been struggling since 2020 due to coronavirus.

He said government was doing all possible for SMEs to function and contribute optimally to the economy, noting the SMEs were critical for economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction.

According to the Minister, SMEs accounted for over 50 per cent of the private sector output, and commended the Access Bank for the training to enable them to be financially empowered.