Head of Economics Department at the University of Ghana, Dr. Ebo Turkson has applauded the government for initiating a stimulus package scheme for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.
According to Dr. Turkson, the initiative by the government is a step in the right direction as it will help save local businesses negatively impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
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Dr. Ebo Turkson explained that “You know the interest in the economy is way above 3 percent. This intervention the government is giving small and medium enterprises is supposed to be a soft loan. When you analyse the intervention, the whole first year is a moratorium, which means you won’t pay anything on the loan in the first year. Businesses will start paying interest at percent from the beginning of the second year.”
“Every business has two to three years to pay the money. The expectation is that after one-year things would have normalized so businesses can start paying back the loan. So you can do business with it since the interest rate is as low as 3 percent which is a good thing,” he added.
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