The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has decried what it says is the high cost of borrowing in the country.
According to the President of the association, Mr James Asare-Adjei, the current situation was undermining business confidence in the country.
He was speaking at the Graphic Business/Fidelity Bank Enonomic Dialogue series, which was held on the theme,”The Economy and Prospects for Business Confidence” in Accra Thursday.
Mr Asare-Adjei noted that lending rates in Ghana average 33.9%, far below the sub-regional average of about 20%.
He pointed out that the lending rates in countries such as Sierra-Leone (19.4%) and Gambia (28.5%) were lower than the prevailing rate in Ghana.
“The question is: ‘Why is Ghana so different?'" he said.
According to Mr Asare-Adjei, businesses could also not take advantage of cheap lending rates abroad because of the instability of the cedi.
He said taxes such as the 17.5% Special Petroleum Levy and the Special Import Levy had compounded the woes of many businesses.
