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Ghana's business sector dominated by micro-sized companies: report

Xinhua, June 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Ghana's business sector is dominated by micro-sized companies as 79.8 percent of businesses in the country were in the micro sector, Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said Tuesday.

Dawarnoba Baeka, Chief Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), disclosed this while launching the new Integrated Business Survey (IBES) Report carried out by the GSS.

The survey results indicate that there are 638,234 non-household (business) establishments in Ghana.

"The data further reveal that majority of businesses (79 percent) of the establishments are micro-sized, suggesting that medium-sized and large-sized firms are relatively less represented in Ghana," Baeka disclosed.

According to him, the data are typical of the structure of businesses in developing countries around the world.

Based on this evidence, the chief director said if Ghana made consistent efforts to grow the small and micro businesses, it could go a long way to foster the development centered growth it had been longing for over the years.

"It will also attract investors to establish medium and large sized businesses which have the potential to produce higher outputs and employ labor far in excess of the small and micro-sized businesses," he added.

Government Statistician Philomena Nyarko said the IBES was relevant for development planning in the country.

"The broad aim of Phase I of the IBES was first to produce a business register of all establishments to serve as a basis for enhanced policy formulation and effective decision-making by government and the business community.

"The major purpose of the IBES is to produce establishment level statistics needed for Ghana's development," she explained.

The last time Ghana undertook an industrial census was in 2003 while the economy was rebased in 2010.

Chairing the function, the president of the Association of Ghana Industries, James Asare Adjei, noted that, as a country that aspired to develop to full middle-income status, timely and reliable data were a must.

"There is a growing demand for reliable and timely data on businesses and we all receive such requests from policy makers and our development partners quite often," he said.

Between the last industrial census in 2003 and this current economic census, Asare-Adjei observed that the country had seen a significant proliferation of businesses in its economy. Endit