Government plans to introduce a programme dubbed, Business Enabling Environment to help deal with some of the challenges business people suffer in their operations.

When implemented, the programme will minimise the administrative and legal bureaucracies businesses go through to commence operation.

The Minister of State in charge of Private Public Partnerships Rashid Pelpuo disclosed this to Joy Business at a presentation of the 9th African Business Leaders Forum organized by Vodafone and the Business and Financial Times in Accra today.

The minister said government would sign a memorandum of understanding with stakeholders of the programme by the end of this November to facilitate its implementation early next year.

“We have some flagship projects that are meant to respond to the challenges of developing the private sector in the country. Essentially our aim is to create an enabling environment to increase our competitiveness and our index of doing business in Ghana higher so that we can attract investment both within and outside the country.

“As a flagship project, it is meant to create the needed environment to ensure that when businesses run into problems with each other, it will be easier to go to court and be able to have an express court decision and go back to do their business, they will have easy access to the harbour if they want to export or import.

“The time period between when the goods arrive and when they’re cleared should also be reduced. Several other factors that are going to create an enabling environment will be addressed including registration of businesses and many more. So creating an enabling environment is one of the key flagship areas of the private sector development strategy that this government is embarking on.”

Mr. Pelpuo also hinted that the programme will also deal with the challenges that businesses go through to secure loans in the course of their operations.

“A key component will also be to create financial innovation, a situation where small and medium enterprises can easily acquire credits at a cheaper rate, which will help them launch their businesses, make profit and be able to pay back. In doing so, we want to widen the scope and formalize the informal sector and create conditions for them to function efficiently in the Ghanaian economy.’’