Covid-19: Two million jobs may be lost - Antwiwaa Yankey

Up to two million jobs may be lost in the country amid the coronavirus pandemic, Executive Director for the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) Kosi Antwiwaa Yankey has projected.

According to her, analyzing both the formal and informal sector, a lot of jobs will be lost, but the number will be drastically controlled with the GHC90 million facility provided by her office in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation to support MSME’s in the country.

On Wednesday, NBSSI boss said: “I think that we would lose a lot,  I mean when we look at it off the back of the cover, we are looking at about two million  jobs, that is the informal and formal sectors,” she said.

She explained: “Because if you look at the Ghanaian economy, there are two things going on, you have the informal economy where we might not have enough numbers, but if we give and take which is actually about 80% of our economy, and you looking at the formal, the hotels, it could be a lot more than you think.”

She noted that the goal of the fund is to keep people in jobs. “And that is what is dear in the heart of the President in terms of coming up with his announcement. And I think that is what is also important for the

NBSSI – Mastercard programme in looking at how best to keep the light on in businesses, how best we keep a lot more people employed at a time like this, so that we minimize the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic”