The Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Professor Peter Quartey, says the government’s provision of a stimulus package does not directly translate into job security.
Speaking on Joy News’ Upfront, he explained that how the package is distributed will, however, determine the security of jobs in the country.
According to him, sectors of the economy that have high demand are those that deserve to be awarded the stimulus package against those with lower demands.
Government is set to roll out a GH¢600 million soft loan scheme for Small and Medium Scale businesses in the country, President Nana Akufo-Addo announced on April 5, 2020.
The loan scheme is expected to have a one-year moratorium and two-year repayment period.
Prof Quartey said targeted distribution of the loan facility to beneficiary companies will ensure that they do not go bad.
“No, it [Job security] is not a guarantee and you need to look at where you put the money. In other words, the stimulus package has to go to sectors that will be producing because there are some that no matter what you do, there won’t even be demand for their services,” he said.
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According to him, the tourism and hospitality sectors for example are currently not in high demand, and would not be producing at their full capacities for sometime even after the pandemic, thus awarding them a stimulus package could result in bad loans.
“So you ought to look at all of these and see which of the sectors if you put in money it will stimulate production; it would ensure that labour is guaranteed of employment,” he said.
