The business community in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, is upset about the budget for 2023 that was given to Parliament on Thursday, November 24, 2022.
The Ashanti Business Owners Association, which speaks for the business community in the area, has said that the budget that finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta presented could put their businesses out of business.
Charles Kusi Appiah-Kubi, the executive secretary of the association, told Citi News that they are worried about the tax hikes that the minister announced. They want the budget to be turned down by Parliament.
"We are really upset. It makes us feel like the government has lost touch with what's going on in the real world."
Our spending money has changed, and our working capital has changed. In a situation where businesses are going out of business, the government should have taken steps to save them... "We hope that the budget won't be passed by Parliament," he said.
Appiah-Kubi said that raising the Value Added Tax (VAT) by 2.5% would make it more expensive to do business in a country where things are already hard.
People think that the New Patriotic Party, which is in power, will do best in the Ashanti Region (NPP). Residents of the area have voted a lot for the party for many years.
Source: yenghana