Wednesday, 1st July, 2026
Hon Alexander Roosevelt Hottordze
Central Tongu
Mr Speaker, I rise to make a Statement to acknowledge Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Day 2026 being celebrated under the theme: “Elevating the Future Generations of Ghana’s SMEs Through Digital Empowerment and Innovation”.
Mr Speaker, the numbers speak for themselves. Small and Medium Enterprises are not the future of our economy. They are the present. This is underscored in the following ways.
First, Scale and Employment: MSMEs constitute over 90 per cent of all registered businesses in Ghana and provide around 80 per cent of total employment. In absolute terms, there are also an estimated 1.7 million MSMEs employing about 8.5 million people with an average of five persons per enterprise.
1. Ghana Commercial Bank’s (GCB) 2023 Report also confirms Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) account for over 90 per cent of businesses and about 80 per cent of employment.
2. Contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) & Growth: According to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 70 per cent of Ghana's GDP is provided by MSMEs. The sector constitutes 92 per cent of manufacturing and 70 per cent of growth and was key to the 5.8 per cent GDP growth recorded in the first half of 2024.
3. Dominance in the Economy: The Ghana Statistical Service's Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES) I Report shows micro-sized businesses alone make up 90.4 per cent of all businesses, and 92.3 per cent of businesses remain informal. They are the true engine room across trade, agriculture, manufacturing, services, and technology.
Mr Speaker, the theme for today is apt. We cannot talk about the "future generation" of MSMEs without talking about digital empowerment and innovation. Data shows MSMEs leveraging digital tools experience up to a 40 per cent increase in revenue compared to traditional models. Yet key obstacles such as informality, poor digital literacy, and underutilisation of mobile and social platforms remain.
On Monday, at Kempinski Hotel, we witnessed the MSME Digital Gateway Go-Live, and Government has committed to unlock GH₵6billion in affordable lending by 2027 for at least 100,000 MSMEs, with 60 per cent for women and youth. I must also acknowledge the critical support being offered by the Ministry responsible for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, the Ghana Enterprises Agency, development partners, financial institutions, and private sector stakeholders who continue to support MSME growth in Ghana.
Mr Speaker, permit me to use this platform to commend GIZ, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union, Stanbic Bank, MTN Ghana, Ghana EXIM Bank, and other partners for investing in financing digital skills, market access, and the MSME Clinic we are witnessing today. Their collaboration is essential to lifting the burden off MSMEs.
If we are serious about elevation, we must be blunt about the bottlenecks. Access to finance remains the biggest constraint, with loan rates as high as 44.24 per cent. However, in the last few years, this has dropped from 44.24 per cent to around 25 per cent now. A financing gap of over $5 billion persists for Ghana's SMEs. Regulatory multiplicity also hurts the sector. For example, an entrepreneur needs 10 unique permits, with about 15 agencies regulating MSMEs.
Therefore, Mr Speaker, I propose 3 key points for the future:
1. Digitise to formalise, formalise to finance: We must scale the MSME Digital Gateway and link it to universal digital registration. A stronger digital database will de-risk MSMEs for banks, reduce informality, and unlock the GH₵6 billion facility faster.
2. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) must be hardwired into MSME growth. The future generation needs digital skills, UX/UI, e-commerce, and FinTech adoption, not just workshops. Let GEA, our development partners, and the TVET Service co-design apprenticeships for the digital economy.
3. One market, one window: To reduce the 10 permits and 15 agencies, we need a single MSME regulatory window with digitised compliance. This will cut the cost of doing business and allow MSMEs to focus on production, not paperwork.
Mr Speaker, MSMEs are the backbone, the engine for growth, and our best bet for inclusive jobs for youth and women. As we celebrate today, let this House commit to moving MSMEs from "watching the movie outside the cinema", to being fully inside, fully digital, and fully bankable. These will enable Ghana tap into the full potential of SMEs as key contributor to Ghana's economy.
I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Nana Osei-Adjei
New Juaben North
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker for the opportunity. I thank my Colleague, Hon Roosevelt Hottordze for this brilliant Statement on MSMEs day in Ghana and the world.
Mr Speaker, in Ghana, MSMEs contribute to one of the largest sources of employment in this country. It is the engine of economic growth since it contributes about 70 per cent of Ghana's total GDP according to GIZ. MSMEs also support industrialisation.
If our One District, One Factory (1D1F) project had come into fruition, we would have seen the support of MSMEs in this country. There is a new paradigm shift when it comes to MSMEs in this country by the regulator. Most of these MSMEs are now going to be moved to microfinance banks. Also, savings and loans, microfinance companies and microcredit companies will be moved to microfinance banks. But the trick is, whereby savings and loans, capital requirements for now is about GH₵15 million.
In the new architecture, the capital requirement for them is going to be GH₵50 million. Where microfinance companies have a minimum capital requirement now of about GH₵2 million, in the new architecture, microfinance companies will be required to have GH₵50 million.
Mr Speaker, with this new paradigm shift, it is greatly going to affect the capital requirements of some of these companies. 2:39 p.m. If care is not taken, foreigners will move into this space, which has always been controlled and handled by indigens.
Mr Speaker, as we celebrate this day, I also urge the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to have proper capital timelines for all these MSMEs that are going to be transitioned into the new architecture so that the employment that they provide to the youth in this country will continuously be supported.
Mr Speaker, with these few words, I support the Statement by the Hon Member. Thank you.
Hon Eric Afful
Amenfi West
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement made by the Chairperson for the Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism, and Hon Member for Central Tongu, Mr Alexander Hottordze.
Mr Speaker, it is true that the MSMEs are the bedrock of the global economy. We cannot take that away from them, and they form 90 per cent of the entire business establishment in the world. Also, out of 1.9 million business establishments in Ghana, MSMEs form about 1.7 million business establishments, and they employ a lot of people in the country.
Mr Speaker, we all know that central governments from all over the world cannot employ a chunk of the people in the country, so these are the areas where we get our employment. One unfortunate aspect of the MSMEs is that they are not formalised, as said by the maker of the Statement. They operate within the informal sector, and we all know that within the informal sector, it is not wellstructured. For that matter, they do not register with the authorities, and also, what happens is that they evade taxes. The government is unable to get revenue from them. So, I think these are the areas we should advise and caution them about.
Mr Speaker, governments and even this House have made frantic efforts to motivate the MSMEs. Let me state a few areas: the Free Zone Act, 1995 (Act 504) is used to motivate the MSMEs, providing incentives for export-oriented businesses to strive the globally competitive environment; the introduction of the National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Entrepreneurship Policy in 2019, which established a framework for coordinated support to MSMEs; and the passage of the Ghana Enterprises Agency Act, 2020 (Act 1043), which established a dedicated body to promote the development of MSMEs across the world.
Mr Speaker, a lot of things have been done to motivate MSMEs; for that matter, we should encourage them. They need encouragement. I heard one of the Hon Members talk about financing; we should create a way for them to be financed with less interest rates, so that they can also increase their capacity. It is true that if these enterprises are not there, the world economy will suffer; Ghana’s economy will suffer. Therefore, we should do all we can to assist these enterprises to play their rightful role, especially in creating employment in the country.
Mr Speaker, let me end here by thanking you for the opportunity.
Hon Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah
Takoradi
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for this great opportunity. I am very happy that this Statement has been made in this House.
In fact, we need more of such Statements. When we come to this House, invariably, about 90 per cent of the Statements that are made and the discussions that go on have always been about expenditure. But this is a Statement about growth and about revenue, and I believe that the maker and all those contributing should be encouraged to do more.
Mr Speaker, MSMEs are the backbone of every economy in the world, whether developed or developing. Therefore, we should be able to support them seriously. In America, we have the Small Business Administration (SBA), and in Ghana, we have the Enterprise Programme.
Mr Speaker, one of the major challenges we have in this country has always been financing. Currently, a lot of the banks are not accessible to the micro and small businesses in this country. Even if we take the current sterilisation by the Bank of Ghana, giving a better interest rate to banks, with the risk associated with lending to small businesses, all the capital that is now being moved instead of coming into the small and medium sector is actually going to the Bank of Ghana.
So, there is no money in the system. Even when people produce at the farm gates, the small, micro, and medium enterprises that need this money to buy from them just do not have the capital to go and buy. In doing so, we slow down the growth of these companies and also slow down the growth of this country. One other major issue has to do with the issue of regulation.
Like the maker of the Statement said, for one agency, they need so many permits from so many different organisations, and they come at different times. So today, an agency locks someone’s shop; they open it; then another agency goes to lock the shop. Even the energy to do business by the small and micro industries becomes a difficulty, and I believe that we might have to start looking at these things.
Mr Speaker, if we take an organisation like the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), when people apply, sometimes it takes more than a year for them to get a license just to manufacture. So, in an industry where we have about 90 per cent of them being MSMEs, getting just one license or one approval in a year before they can manufacture.
Naturally, when they go there one or two times a month, and they do not get it, they will manufacture and put them on the market, and we all know. All of us eat outside; we use products from outside, and it becomes difficult. So, I believe that it is time the bottlenecks that are being created by our own agencies which are supposed to regulate these industries sat up.
Mr Speaker, when it comes to small-scale mining, people ask for a license, but it takes them three years before they get a license. That is why I have always said in this House that we need to decentralise and give all the powers to the districts so that they can engage these people. If somebody needs an FDA license, why must the person come to Accra, or the man in the district says he is waiting for Accra before he can issue it?
Today, we have digital systems in this world that we can leverage because everybody trained, for instance, in the regulatory space has virtually gone to the same school. So, why should a man in Wassa Akropong be deemed to be unfit to issue a license than his own colleague who may be in Accra? This is because we have not been able to decentralise properly; that is why we are still underdeveloped.
Mr Speaker, if we take a country like China, which is so vast and deep, even economic and free zone enclaves are managed by unit committees, not even the district assemblies in China. So, you see them growing. But for us, we continue to use the power of centralisation to create bottlenecks for our own people, and therefore our people are just not developing.
Today, people talk about overcrowding in Accra while there are spaces in the Central, the Western, Ashanti, and the Eastern Regions. We need to decentralise—
Hon Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings
Korle Klottey
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to comment on the Statement made by the Hon Member.
Mr Speaker, given the amount of money that Government has committed to releasing to Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), I think that it is important that we take cognisance of the fact that there is a 50 per cent failure rate of MSMEs and there is a 20 per cent success rate of startups. The fact that women and youth are being targeted is very important because the majority of our population are young people.
Mr Speaker, in order to make sure that the investment that Government will be making into MSMEs achieve the outcomes, it is important that handholding, the mentorship in the industry is done in a deliberate way, so that the investment that Government is making in terms of supporting MSMEs with loans does not go to waste.
It is also known that a lot of these enterprises end up defaulting on their loans because of the failure of their businesses. So as part of the policy of making financial packages easily available and accessible to these MSMEs, it would be important to include a form of mentorship for such persons who are engaged in the industry to ensure their success, so that the money does not go to waste.
As we know, in addition to all of the constraints in accessing the financial support, the operational inefficiencies, the lack of capacity in terms of managerial expertise, the lack of strategic planning and inadequate capacity in financial management are part of the reasons why a lot of these MSMEs do not succeed. And so, it would be important to make use of technology, to make use of the digitalisation of the space to help build the capacity of persons in the industry, and also to reduce the costs involved of harmonising the frameworks.
Mr Speaker, another very important part of this is the inadequate infrastructure. If we are asking MSMEs that are outside the capitals to remain outside the capitals, then the projects regarding the road constructions under the Big Push and other policies of Government have to be done, bearing in mind the economic impact that they will have positively on the success rate and growth of these MSMEs. Infrastructure is very important. A
nd then finally, to add, Mr Speaker, that as we look at improving the standing of these MSMEs, to look at how we can ensure that trade and commerce under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) happens in a way that makes it possible for cross-border businesses to thrive, and not just within the country, in order that members of these enterprises are able to access markets outside of Ghana.
And so, Mr Speaker, I do add my voice to the maker of the Statement, and I commend him for same. Thank you.
Hon Jerry Ahmed Shaib
Weija-Gbawe
Mr Speaker, thank you very much. Let me first of all take this opportunity to commend my senior Colleague, Hon Roosevelt Hottordze, for such a remarkable Statement.
Mr Speaker, coincidentally, every 27th June is observed as MSMEs’ day, and therefore it tells the kind of role MSMEs play in our body politic. Why do we observe this day as MSME day? It is because they play very vital roles, including ensuring that there is economic growth, there is innovation, there is the provision of job opportunities, and there is sustainable development.
But, Mr Speaker, MSCEs do not stand on their own. They need support from businesses, from Government, and from other international bodies to perform the kind of roles they perform.
Mr Speaker, how do we support MSMEs? First of all, I think that we should improve on their access to finance. How do we do that? By making loans affordable, making grants and investment opportunities more available to MSMEs. Secondly, we have also observed that MSMEs can perform better when their activities are digitalised.
So, there is also the need to adopt digital technology in supporting the activities of MSME. For instance, if you want to make payments, and even take loans—That is why the mobile money interoperability is one of the key platforms by which MSMEs can perform their task. The only problem, really, is also the mindset of the people that even go accessing such loans.
Mr Speaker, you would be surprised at the number of people who are owing the telecommunication companies because of such facilities. Sometimes, when they take such loans, they take so much that they are unable to pay and they abandon their mobile money number. They throw the SIM card into one of the flood zones in Weija Gbawe.
Mr Speaker, if we are to improve upon the activities of MSMEs, it will be better done using technology. That is why we need to improve on software mechanisms which are better. We should also encourage e-commerce platforms and also social media to improve efficiency of MSMEs.
Mr Speaker, MSMEs should also provide business training to both their clients and their staff. I have had the occasion of, I do not want to call a particular name of that MSME, but this MSME had a way of retrieving funds from its customers when they failed to pay, including, visiting their customers, who have not paid those loans granted them, at night and throwing stones onto their roofs.
But, Mr Speaker, if we compare that to the use of technology, most of these things can be avoided. And if their staff are properly trained and given the necessary resources, some of these things can be avoided. Because before you even assess the facility, they know that you are capable of paying, and that you are using the loan for whatever use you are taking the facility for.
Mr Speaker, we need to encourage innovation, support research, provide the necessary product development, and then adopt new technologies to ensure there is competitive nature in MSMEs’ activities, and also, the need to develop the infrastructure that MSMEs use.
Mr Speaker, not to bore you, I think that there is also the need to improve on financial literacy. Let people know that when they go for facilities, it is for a particular purpose. They do not go for a facility meant for business, then end up using it for funerals, or funeral cloth. In some communities that we have lived, we know that people go for all manner of loans with the idea that they are going to use it for a certain project, but by the time they are done, they use the facility for other projects.
Mr Speaker, when we are able to implement all these ideas that we have brought up, and as contributed by other Members, they can become more productive, they can become more resilient. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Hon Richard Acheampong
Bia East
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity, and I thank the Hon Member for bringing this issue up.
Mr Speaker, I think we need to pay attention to our small and medium scale businesses and invest in them. Like many contributors have just said, Government cannot create employment for everybody. But when we support the private sector, they will also help by creating job opportunities for the people. So, when we are talking about financial inclusion, these are the people we are talking about. Now we have the Ghana Export-Import (EXIM) Bank, Development Bank Ghana (DBG) and they are all lending facilities through banks to other people.
Mr Speaker, what they are doing now is manufacturing, agribusiness, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and high value services. The Committee on Finance visited some companies in the Northern Regions and the Tema enclaves last two weeks to monitor what they are doing to support the growth of this economy.
In the 2026 Budget, Hon Minister mentioned that Development Bank Ghana is making about GH₵500 million for the 24-Hour Economy initiatives. So, we need to include Development Bank Ghana, let people take advantage, assess the facility and help develop this economy. But if care is not taken, the politically exposed people go in there, take the facility and at the end of the day, nothing comes out of it.
Because they are politically connected, they will get the facility than the professionals who can use the money to develop this economy of ours. These are some of the things we need to do away with. They will not pay back. They would say they are going to grow maize, cassava or pineapple. At the end of the day, we will not see anything. They will come saying that the rains set in and everything has been washed away, which is never the case.
Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague was talking about the recapitalisation and the paid-up capital of the financial institutions. Bank of Ghana has issued a statement. Now they are changing the names of all rural banks to community banks. Their stated capital has been increased to GH₵5 million, but there is a danger. Many of them are artificial. We need physical injection, cash, liquidity, but many rely on their retained earnings. So, for example, now they have GH₵3 million paid-up capital because if you raise it to GH₵5 million, they will go back to their reserves account and increase it by GH₵2 million or GH₵3 million. So, at the end of the day, there is no physical cash. When they say run on the bank, there is no way they can deal with their customers. So, they cannot give loans.
Mr Speaker, so let us use the state institutions such as the EXIM Bank, Development Bank Ghana and give them their resources. I can tell the House, their recovery rate is 99.9 per cent, almost 100 per cent, because they do a proper assessment of the facility and they are all lending the facility through the banks. So, if the beneficiaries refuse to pay, they hold the banks responsible. And no bank will sit down to lose its investment. And they put a small margin on it, let us say plus or minus two per cent. So, it is cheaper to deal with these state institutions, take off these politically exposed people, allow the private people who have the know-how, the techniques, to deal with these matters.
Mr Speaker, so, many of us go to the shopping mall, buy things and we do not take receipts. We use a point of sale (PoS) machine. How many people are even patronising this? Even affixing of tax stamps have become a challenge. You buy a product and you cannot find a tax stamp. How can you pay tax to the State? So, these are some of the things— Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the State and all of us should come together.
So, we need to talk about this matter at another time. So, lets come together. It is good our Colleague brought this matter up, but we have a lot to do. Let us use the state institutions. EXIM Bank and the Development Bank Ghana can help us deal with these matters. Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity.
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