We can’t force traders to reduce prices; it’s an appeal – GUTA on price adjustment

The Ghana Union of Traders Association has said that their calls for price adjustment of goods and services is not mandatory.

According to the Vice President of GUTA, Clement Boateng, they are only appealing to traders not to overstretch Ghanaian consumers who have suffered from price hikes since the beginning of the year with respect to the persistent cedi depreciation.

Mr. Boateng made the clarification in a Citinews interview following their directive for price adjustment in an earlier statement issued.

A statement signed by GUTA’s president, Dr. Joseph Obeng noted that the call for price adjustment of goods and services is to make the consuming public feel the impact of this positive trend in the cedi appreciation.

“As the value of the cedi begins to appreciate, GUTA wishes to appeal to the business community to adjust prices of goods and services accordingly, to make the consuming public feel the impact of this positive trend”, he said in a statement.

GUTA’s request for the business community to review prices comes at a time the Ghana cedi has begun stabilising following a number of strategies put in place by the Akufo-Addo administration to check the free fall of the cedi against major trading currencies especially, the US Dollar.

When asked if traders would comply with their price reduction request, Mr. Boateng explained that “it is something that we are appealing…we cannot force anybody to do something which is not in their interest. It is an appeal that we are making to take the plight of the consumer into consideration because we all know that the Ghanaian consumer has been overstretched for sometime now.”

Also, when asked why Ghanaians price their goods higher than Nigerian counterparts, the GUTA Vice President said that the Nigerians sell inferior goods and also avoid paying taxes hence can afford to price lower than Ghanaians.