The President of the Association of Ghana Indsutries, Dr. Humphrey Ayim-Darke, has suggested some four measures the government could employ to reduce the financial constraint on business as they battle the current economic downturn.

According to him, businesses are suffering and it is up to the government to take drastic measures to see to it that businesses survive this phase in Ghana’s economic history.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition, he among other things called for the restoration of the benchmark value as well as an extension of the tax amnesty which is supposed to end in June of this year.

He said, “One, restore the benchmark value as we requested … a number of issues have led to this.  

“Two, the raw material bit that industry is using let us discount it zero for industries to import and increase productivity. Granted that this inflation is being driven by productivity we’ll not find ourselves in this space.

“Thirdly, I said peg the exchange rate at the port, instead of every two weeks possibly start with a quarter and let’s see the effect.

“Fourthly, the tax amnesty that government granted industry and the economy kindly extend it, you know it was extended to June, we pray that within the difficulty we are battling with our taxes, Mr. Minister please extend the tax amnesty possibly for a year so that we can get a breather to readjust and plow in some of the funds back into the system.”

He believes these measures if implemented would allow businesses thrive and bounce back better in the near future.