The Chief Executive of the Private Enterprise Federation (PEF), Nana Osei Bonsu, wants the Bank of Ghana to implement a policy that will ensure foreign firms keep a percentage of their annual profit in the country, over a period of three years.

This, he believes, will prevent the occasional excessive capital flight and the perennial pressure on the cedi.

Speaking in an interview with Joy Business, Nana Osei Bonsu, said since most of the firms enjoy some tax reliefs, they should keep part of their profit within the country to stimulate economic growth.

According to him, he has written to the Bank of Ghana to show his concern.

“The point is, if they’re making the profit, good…they create jobs, they create opportunities, let them leave chunk of the profit here to redirect into other business opportunities. They should divert some of the profit into the SME sector, so that if you invest in the SME sector with some of the profit we give you some benefits.”

“The private sector has been stifled of funds for so long. Why can’t the repatriated funds stay in the country for three or four years? he questioned. “This will boost liquidity”, he added.

Nana Osei Bonsu further said the local currency will become the biggest beneficiary if a policy is enacted to prevent its perennial depreciation.

“Incentivise them; what I called the affirmative action in the sense that you want to direct the profit margins into sectors that normally wouldn’t get resources. Because, when you allowed them [foreign firms] to repatriate the profit, everybody is looking for foreign exchange [dollar] and that foreign exchange affects the cedi’s value.”