Access to credit from banks has been identified as the biggest challenge facing businesses. This was revealed by the Association of Ghana Industries’ Business Barometer, a periodic opinion survey about what chief executives make of the business environment. The survey gauged the views of 300 small to big businesses across the country. Joy Business’ George Wiafe perused the report and reports that the survey represents the views of business owners from October to December last year. Cost of credit, high cost of raw materials, high utility prices and competition from imported goods were also cited as challenges. This is the first time access to credit has topped the factors hampering businesses growth in Ghana overtaking cost of credit which for years now has been the main difficulty. AGI President Nana Owusu Afari explained the banks’ desire to minimize their non-performing loans had led to a situation where the banks had greatly reduced their loans to businesses. Nana Owusu Afari tells Joy Business the situation calls for immediate attention from managers of the economy. Despite this challenge, businesses were optimistic of the environment improving in the first quarter of this year. This they attribute to the decrease in utility prices and increase in purchasing power of consumers. The AGI survey however contrasts sharply to that of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana which says credit to the private sector for the period saw a real growth to end the year at a 16-month high. Source: Joy Business/Ghana