The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is raising alarm over the possible shortage of goods in Ghana by May 2020 following the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
According to GUTA, prices of goods in the country may also go up following the shortage of goods on the international market.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday [March 11, 2020] President of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng noted that the situation may worsen if the disease is not contained.
“About 60% of our traders do physical travelling to the open market in Asia to buy their goods. These people are not travelling at all. So they’re not going to bring in any goods and so if there is a shortage of goods now, until the time that this epidemic is contained, they will not be able to restock for the next couple of months. So it all indicates that by the middle of May, we are going to face some shortage. And because of demand and supply, prices are going to go higher,” he said.
GUTA had earlier advised its members to defer any plans to travel to China until the disease is brought under control.
In a press statement, the Association said its members should find other means of transacting business other than travelling to that country until the outbreak is brought under control.
GUTA also admonished its members who have returned recently from or are returning from a trip to China and its environs to visit the nearest hospitals for diagnosis immediately they feel any symptoms.
Travel ban
Meanwhile, President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged citizens to desist from foreign travels where possible as the novel coronavirus assumes pandemic status.
Delivering an address to the nation on Wednesday evening, he said: “all of us as much as possible, [must] desist from all foreign travels, except the most critical ones, until there is a grip on the virus.”
This urge comes after the President temporarily suspended foreign travels for all government officials as part of government’s measures to prevent an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Ghana.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
