Mark Badu-Aboagye, big boss over at the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, basically called out this shiny new 24-Hour Economy policy for what it is nice idea, but kinda useless unless we fix what’s actually broken.
He was on JoyNews’ PM Express, right after John Mahama rolled out the NDC’s big plan, and honestly, the guy didn’t sugarcoat a thing.
“Rolling out a 24-hour economy isn’t gonna magically fix the mess businesses are dealing with right now,” he said pretty much straight up.
His whole point? You can dress the economy up all you want, but if business conditions suck, nothing’s changing. Inflation? Sure, it’s down. The cedi’s not tanking (for once). Confidence is up a bit. But, as he put it, you need more than some pretty numbers to make this thing stick.
“Cool, inflation’s at 13.7%. Necessary? Yeah. Enough? Not even close,” he said. And he’s right when was the last time a business owner got excited about single digits on a spreadsheet, when their bills still make them sweat?
He hammered on the stuff that actually keeps business owners up at night: credit is expensive, utilities cost an arm and a leg, and energy prices are through the roof. Manufacturing in Ghana? You’re paying 12 to 15 cents per kilowatt hour, while your overseas competition is chilling at less than five cents. Good luck trying to compete with that.
And don’t get him started on interest rates. With a 28% policy rate, loans for businesses can hit over 30%. Who in their right mind is borrowing at those rates to try and export? Nobody who wants to stay afloat, that’s for sure.
He also made it clear: if this whole 24-hour plan is just for Ghanaians to feed themselves, then what’s the point? The real aim is to export and stay competitive on the world stage. But unless Ghanaian products are priced right and actually good quality, nobody cares how many hours your factories run.
At the end of the day, Badu-Aboagye’s message was pretty simple unless those “macroeconomic gains” (fancy talk for inflation and cedi stuff) actually translate into cheaper loans, lower bills, and better access to credit, this 24-hour economy is just another political slogan.
So yeah, let’s stop patting ourselves on the back for small wins and actually make it easier for businesses to, you know, do business. Otherwise, it’s just talk.