The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), Mark Badu Aboagye has described Ghana’s 2022 budget as the worse in the last 30 years.

According to him, the budget has failed to address the issues affecting many facets of the Ghanaian economy.

In his remarks at the Joy Business 2023 Pre-Budget Forum, he lamented the increase in inflation, rising interest rates and the cedi depreciation as examples.

He pointed out that the present rise in food prices and transportation costs would cause inflation to skyrocket in October.

“I think it’s the worse budget in the last 30 years in terms of performance. Let’s compare the budget figures to the actual figures. When you compare the macroeconomic indicators, it’s obvious that we wouldn’t achieve any of them.”

“I think it’s a total failure and in fact the variances are huge. In certain cases, you could have adjusted if the variance were normal but in our case that isn’t it”, Mr. Badu Aboagye bemoaned.

On the Electronic Transaction Levy, he said its nuisance, hence the need for a review of the tax to cushion local businesses.

Additionally, he demanded that the administration eliminate the new VAT and tax regime in the budget and economic plan for 2023.

He claims that because of the new tax laws, businesses are now in a challenging situation, which is driving up the cost of goods and services.

“Businesses are collapsing as a result of the E-levy. We were against the electronic transaction levy right for the onset because we realize it won’t help businesses in Ghana. Businesses need to make profit to meet investors’ expectations, but that is not what we are seeing at the moment”

He added local businesses are just operating to sustain their operations but not to make profits.