The President of the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng, has called on government to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the country.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to present the mid-year budget on Monday, July 31, 2023.

Speaking on Joy FM's Top Story on Friday about his expectation of what the mid-year should entail, he said, “All that we need is stability and space for the business community to grow our business that is all that we need.”

According to him, the cedi's stability must be maintained at its current level if the rate of depreciation cannot be reduced.

The cedi is currently traded at an average of ¢11.50 to the American dollar in the retail market, whilst it went for about ¢10.97 on the interbank market.

The cedi is, however, going for almost ¢12 at the forex bureaus.

He also said he expects the hike in inflation reduced. This, according to him is the main challenge in the country.

He proffered solutions to ensure the inflation rate is reduced drastically as follows:

• We must do so by lowering the cost of doing business. The cost of doing business is so high that we are completely uncompetitive in the subregion.

• We must also lower the monetary policy rate to allow the lending rate to fall.

• Manage our expenditure.