The Ghana Business Tracker – Result from Wave 4 

22-03-2024

The Ghana Business Tracker – Result from Wave 4 

Last Tuesday morning the 19th of March the Ghana Business Tracker results from Wave 4 organised by the Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) in cooperation with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union (EU) took place at the World Bank Office in Accra.

The Business Tracker is part of the global Business Pulse Survey by the World Bank and its partners to measure the impact of the pandemic and subsequent crises on the private sector.

The objective was to understand how businesses were recovering from the pandemic amidst new global and local challenges, how trade was faring between local and European firms, and what the outlook was for firms and how they were navigating the global challenges.

Conducted between April and July 2023 it covered 3,157 micro, small, medium and large-sized companies, including 60 European firms.

The survey of the GSS showed that about 90 per cent of businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have fully recovered and are in operation. It revealed that the majority of firms surveyed had experienced improvements in their cash flows. It said the businesses covered under the study recorded a 4.2 percent increase in nominal sales between 2021 and 2022, and local companies trading with European firms recorded an 11 per cent increase in sales.

The  questions for the Ghana Businesses Tracker Wave 4 were expanded to include how firms were adopting digital and green technologies in their operations.

It revealed that about 12 per cent of the businesses surveyed were embracing digital technologies as a means to counteract the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On green solutions, a few companies had adopted energy-efficient solutions in their operations. “One in ten firms report that they are using energy-efficient manufacturing equipment. More than two-thirds of micro, small and medium firms report not having a target for energy consumption. Among large firms, 60 per cent do not have a target,” the Head of Industrial Statistics of GSS stated.

As part of the launch of the survey, there was a panel discussion and the speakers were Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Enterprises Agency, Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah,  CEO of Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) , , and Mr Charles Kubi, Director of Economics and Business Bureau of Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) . It was planned  that the panel discussion would be  on the following 3 topics:

  • digital opportunities,
  • climate change; what are the challenges and opportunities
  • trade; how to take advantage of regional and global trade opportunities

Because the moderator Mr Bernard Avle from Citi FM announced that others present could make their contribution, Tjalling Wiarda , GM of GNBCC took the opportunity to make comments concerning the 2nd topic : climate change and Ghanaian firms; challenges and opportunities.

He pointed out to a recent measure implemented by the Energy Commission (EC) concerning the review of the qualification criteria for bulk customers. As a bulk customer of electricity, a company can purchase electricity at a lower tariff with Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG)  and/or  can enter into a so called PPA – Power Purchase Agreement . A PPA is a long-term agreement to purchase clean (renewable) energy from a specific asset  at a predetermined price between a renewable energy developer and a bulk consumer. For instance a solar energy company or waste to energy company can design, build and own an energy system on its customer’s site while the customer purchases the resulting energy.

Per 4th  of March without any consultation the EC has decided to raise the threshold for becoming a bulk customer from the initial 500 kw to 3000 mw ( 3million volt ampere) , a six fold increase . This will immediately result in the fact that the current bulk customers using  between 500 kw and 3000 kw will stop being bulk customers and lose their benefits such as lower electricity prices and making use of renewable energy sources (through PPA’s)

Factually it discourages renewable energy adoption by this group of ex-bulk customers hence hindering Ghana in  obtaining its sustainability goals. In the recent past a number of multinational and local companies for instance chose to invest in renewable energy due to these  benefits which have stopped now. As a side effect this measure restricts the growth of renewable energy companies in Ghana and increases the electricity bill of the companies who are below the 3000 mw usage. The short term goal of the EC seems to protect ECG and kill the competition of private renewable energy companies; this in the end will result that those companies will disinvest from Ghana.

Mr Wiarda hoped that this EC measure would be reverted in the near future. Mr Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah of the AGI stated that the raise of the threshold was on the high side , especially because there was no consultation by the EC prior to its decision. 

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