The Covid-19 disease has affected about 80 percent of Small and Medium Enterprises in the hospitality industry in Ghana.
Mrs Barbara Oteng Gyasi, Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, who disclosed this at a media briefing in Accra, said about 1,000 businesses in the sector, which are affected by the virus would benefit from a nine-million-dollar support scheme from the World Bank.
She said the category of businesses that would benefit from the scheme were Ghanaians engaged in indigenous businesses in the tourism sector with employment capacity of one to five persons, small businesses that employed between six to thirty persons and medium businesses that employed between 31 to 100 people
Mrs Oteng Gyasi said before the disbursement of the funds, the Ministry would engage an independent entity to assess the financial records of the beneficiaries to ensure equity in the sharing of the funds to the affected businesses.
She added that the Ministry would also embark on a vigorous monitoring and evaluation exercise to ensure that the monies were used for the intended purpose, adding that the monies were meant to revamp businesses that are dying as a result of the virus.
She, therefore, urged the beneficiaries of the fund to utilize the opportunity offered for the government to meet the objective of securing the fund.
Mrs Oteng Gyasi hinted that prospective applicants could submit their application from June 24th, 2020 to July 8, 2020.
Jessica Dadzie, ISD
