Key players in Ghana's private sector yesterday took the bull by the horn to express their misgivings over the inability of present and successive governments to manage the country's economy. According to them, for the past ten years all governments that ruled the country have adopted "a try and error method" to manage Ghana's fiscal and monetary policies.

This came to light at this year's Private Sector workshop to Review the 2010 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana. They raised their voice over the issue of cyclical stabilization and growth of economy, coupled with populism tactics of the government, saying "governments keep on repeating most aspects of the budgets".

An Economist, Mr. Felix Tettey-Fio added that even the 2009 Budget under performed and failed most of it targets. He explained that the thrust of economic policy should be the adoption of prudent policy measures through policy coordination and better management of the national economy. These Policies include: improving macroeconomic stability, Resource mobilization to support accelerated development, expanded development of production infrastructure in energy, transport, water and communications and modernizing agriculture and the rural economy.

Highlighting the 2010 Budget at the workshop, organized by the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF), Mr. Tettey-Fio appealed to the government to put in place measures to reduce the long delay in the payment for goods and services procured by government. Several service providers have had their businesses distressed. This situation, he described as a form of proxy borrowing by government.

The private sector also raised alarm over the higher cost of doing business - higher interest rates, tighter fiscal policy and reduced investment spending- lower job opportunities, and higher inflation -pass through effects of imported inflation.

"Ease of Doing Business" by the World Bank survey positions Ghana at the unenviable 92 out of 183 countries surveyed. We are losing grounds as a favourable investment destination", he hinted.

The Government should promote/pursue growth by enhancing policies, while maintaining the macroeconomic stability gains made so far. The private sector needs to expand to contribute to development through increased employment and taxation.

Mr. Tettey-Fio, who is the consultant to PEF, suggested to the government the per capita SME ratio is small given its employment generation potential. We need to pay serious attention to the SME sector. The special characteristics of the SME sector need a special vehicle to address their financing needs. Probably the SME bank idea should be given serious consideration.

He urged the government to introduce innovative ways of roping in the large informal sector into the tax net, saying the Policy should take a second look at the use of the interest rate as an anchor in the fight against inflation especially in the regime of a lax fiscal policy stance. The current practice is seriously hurting the productive sector of the economy

The Government should desist from crowding out the private sector through excessive domestic borrowing. The oversight role of Parliament in respect of budget overruns was also questioned.

Our trade deficit at current levels is not sustainable. Policy should look at the unbridled importation of all sorts of consumer goods.

The environmental impact of some of the imports such as used bicycles; motor bikes and computers should not be lost on policy makers. The private sector asked the rational behind the potential for reduced agricultural output in subsequent years if post harvest management challenges are not handled effectively. What is the state of the proposed Agricultural Fund, they questioned.

"The fight against corruption must go beyond mere campaign. We need to resource appropriate institutions to take the fight seriously. This is especially so with the emerging oil industry. We need to learn from the experiences of some of our neighbor oil producing countries".

To this end, they appealed to the government to strengthening the anti-corruption institutions, such as CHRAJ and SFO to enable them fight corruption.

A Senior Economist at the PEF, Mr. Moses Agyemang asked the government to explain why the proposed agricultural fund was not captured in the 2010.

The past President of PEF and Member of the PEF Governing Board, Nana Yeboah Asare II, who chaired the function, announced that PEF had engaged with bankers on the issue of the cut-throat interest rates in the country.

The Director-General of PEF, Dr. Osei Boeh-Ocansey noted that the current economic crisis imposed greater challenges on governments all over the world.

But, he believed that the government of Ghana would be able to weather these challenges.