Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), Mark Badu-Aboagye, says the fiscal stability ushered in by the International Monetary Fund programme has been good for businesses.

According to him, while businesses had hoped that the cedi would have appreciated much more against the dollar, the current cedi stability has aided businesses to plan appropriately.

“Now I think there is high level of stability so it will enhance planning. So for businesses one thing that we look out for is ability to plan for short to medium term so that when you’re putting in your investment you know how the situation will be.

“And for some time now since the IMF deal was announced at least we’ve seen some stability in the foreign exchange market which is very important because a chunk of what we do as Prof. rightly said depends on the foreign exchange market, what we’re importing and what we’re using the cedi for. So, on that score I think it is positive, businesses can plan. So we’re happy about that,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express.

His comment follows Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s assertion on Monday that the IMF programme had started yielding positive results.

According to Mr. Ofori-Atta, the positive outcomes seen so far include decreases in the rate of inflation and treasury bills, improvements in foreign reserve and current account positions.

Mr. Badu-Aboagye noted that while these outcomes are good their impact in the business community have not been strongly felt.

He said the business community is still hoping that the cedi appreciates so more to ease the cost of doing business in the country.

“If it’s stable you can plan with it. But if you’re also able to reduce or the cedi is able to put up a strong performance, then the better it is for us because we will be able to export things at a lower rate and whatever that we’re using the cedi for we’ll be able to get it at a lower rate and that will also translate into lower prices and cost of production to us.

“And so our expectation actually was to see the cedi appreciate to a large extent which of course immediately we’re not going to get it, we’re not experiencing it, but the stability that we’re experiencing now, at least we’ll be able to plan around 12 cedis and I think you’re okay to go,” he said.