Coronavirus Alleviation Program

The Coronavirus Alleviation Program Business Support Scheme (CAPBuSS) was launched in Ghana on 19 May 2020 by President Nana Akufo-Addo. It was formed as part of Ghana's government intention of providing support to MSMEs who were affected by COVID-19 pandemic.[1][2][3] It was presented by an agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Ghana called NBSSI.[4][5] The president announced GH¢1 billion after it was approved by the parliament of Ghana.[6][7][8] The NBSSI ended the disbursement of funds in January 2021.[9]

Objectives

The objectives of the scheme are to provide emergency relief fund for MSMEs and entrepreneurs in Ghana, establish a comprehensive and financially sustainable emergency relief fund package for MSMEs and provide them with technical assistance to ameliorate the impact of COVID-19.

Categories

The fund is said to be categorized into two loans with an interest rate of 3% which is payable within 2years.

  • Anidaso Soft Loan was meant for firms that are larger than micro-businesses
  • Adom Micro Loan was meant for lower micro enterprises.[10]

Job Creation

According to the executive director of NBSSI, more than 21,800 jobs were created under this scheme which were mainly owned by youths in Ghana.[11]

Benefits

About 110,000 MSMEs in Ghana were said to be owned by women who have benefited from the funds set by the government.[12] In October 2020, government launched an amount to aid banks in Ghana to give financial help to SMEs for their recovery from the shocks of the pandemic.[13] The executive director of NBSSI claimed there was an approval for the disbursement of stimulus packages to over 1,000 private schools in the country.[14]

The NBSSI in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation launched the Nkosuo Program for the support of both formal and informal sectors who were affected by COVID-19 pandemic.[15]

It is known that just about Just 24 hours after the President launched the GH¢1 billion Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) Business Support Scheme, the National Board and Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) was flooded with applications from businesses seeking the opportunity to benefit from the stimulus package.

It is estimated that the board received more than 8,000 applications from interested businesses as of the close of business on the day.[16]

Controversies

Even though the program was launched to cushion Ghanaian businesses, it somewhat failed to account the peculiar needs of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in its implementation. Research estimates that, only 7% of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs). [17]

It was also revealed that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) in the North East Gonja District in the Savannah Region of Ghana didn’t benefit from the program.

It has also been revealed that district service providers were not well informed on the government’s COVID-19 relief packages to educate the beneficiaries while the eligibility requirements for accessing the packages were not entirely clear to potential beneficiaries.

Information on the intervention was also highly politicised as political figures were the carriers of the information in the district.[18]

References
  1. Donkor, Jonathan (2020-06-10). "Ghana: 170,000 MSMEs Apply for COVID-19 Business Support Scheme - NBSSI". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  2. "Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme (CAP BuSS): Win-Win for All!". MyJoyOnline.com. 2020-05-29. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  3. "170,000 MSMEs apply for COVID-19 business support scheme- NBSSI". Ghanaian Times. 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  4. "IIA - Invest In Africa : Prospering African Economies". investinafrica.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-06. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  5. "Ghana Can Dream Again – Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme: Win-Win For All!". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  6. "COVID-19 Alleviation Programme: 8,000 apply for loan". Graphic Online. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  7. "NBSSI detects 5,200 fraud alerts on Coronavirus Alleviation Programme". www.ghanaweb.com. 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  8. Bureau, Communications (19 May 2020). "President Akufo-Addo Launches Gh¢1 Billion Cap Business Support Scheme". presidency.gov.gh. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  9. "CAPBuSS disbursement ends January 31". www.ghanaweb.com. 2021-01-30. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  10. "NBSSI disburses GHC1m to micro business owners". BusinessGhana. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  11. "21,892 jobs created in three and half years – NBSSI". www.ghanaweb.com. 2020-10-03. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  12. "Coronavirus: 110,000 women-owned businesses get support". www.ghanaweb.com. 2020-10-05. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  13. "Govt unveils GH¢2 billion credit guarantee scheme for SMEs". www.ghanaweb.com. 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  14. "Disbursement of GH¢50 million stimulus to private schools approved – NBSSI". www.ghanaweb.com. 2020-09-14. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  15. "NBSSI launches business support programme". Graphic Online. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  16. "8000 applications for first day of launch". graphic online. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  17. "7% of PWDs benefit from CAP". ghana business news. 20 December 2020. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  18. "MSMEs in North East Gonja never benefited from COVID-19 support". Ghana business news. 27 January 2022. Retrieved 2023-08-01.


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