Ghana News Agency (Accra) – About 85,000 businesses are still closed because of the damaging impact of COVID-19, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Business Tracker survey has shown.
The report shows that more than two-thirds of the businesses which closed either permanently or temporarily were micro-sized firms.
Professor Samuel Annim, the Government Statistician, announced this when he presented the findings of the COVID-19 Rapid Surveys Business Tracker in Accra.
The survey, which started on 26 May and ended on 17 June 2020, was conducted in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Bank to provide critical information to help the government, development partners and other organisations to monitor the effects of COVID-19 on business in Ghana.
Professor Annim said that during the partial lockdown, more than 45,000 workers lost their jobs and wages for over 770,000 shrank.
Digitisation
The survey also showed that less than 10% of businesses adopted or intensified the use of the internet for their operations.
“On average, close to 131,000 businesses indicated that they had challenges accessing financials and more than 60% of firms called for subsidised interest rates,” Professor Annim said.
About 46.1% of business establishments reported to have reduced their wages for 25.7% of the workforce, with only 4% of firms indicating that they had laid off about 41,952 workers.
The Ghana Statistical Service report showed that 37.5% of firms started or increased their use of mobile money. About a tenth of firms (roughly 9%) also started or increased their use of the internet to do business.
Time of uncertainty
The survey showed that only 3.5% of firms received government assistance.
It said most firms reported substantial uncertainty in relation to future sales and employment, with average expectations of declines of 24% in sales and 15% in employment in the worst-case scenario.
According to the findings, Ghanaian businesses were affected through a multiplicity of channels and expected to continue to feel the impact of the pandemic.
Professor Annim said short-run policies which supported firms in managing financial shocks would be beneficial.
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