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The Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) says the country cannot continue to rely on development partners for consistent funding of its various programmes and policies. �As a country, we cannot continue to rely on development partners to continuously provide funding for the various programmes and policies aimed at accelerating our development. Our policy makers must see the private sector as a partner and the vehicle to stimulate growth and development�, Asare Akuffo, President of PEF reiterated. Addressing various private sector players who met to make inputs into the 2012 budget, far ahead of its presentation in November 2012, Mr. Akuffo said policies and programmes should have the overall objective of assisting the private sector to expand and deliver its proportionate share of the national development. �Let us consider these thought-provoking questions; what aspects of the 2012 Budget Statement and Economic Policy should assist private sector operations, how soon do we seek implementation of these policies and how best can policy changes can be addressed?� he asked. The meeting which was held prior to the World Bank/IMF annual assembly was attended by private sector bodies such as GREDA, Ghana Bankers Association, CIMG, and the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The group will meet again to review the inputs made earlier before the budget is read. Mr. Akuffo called for serious policy consideration towards an improved private sector. They include trade liberalization, improvement in road and transport infrastructure, a review of the tax system among others. Nana Osei-Bonsu, Director-General of PEF, noted that it was important that the review had taken place. �We don�t want to be a talk shop. We want our inputs to be incorporated into the various sectors of governance.� Felix Tettey-Fio, an economist and consultant to the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF), who researched into the challenges confronting the private sector, described the delayed payments of arrears to contractors and service providers by the government particularly as contributing to the high cost of credit which was still about 28 percent on the average though inflation and the Bank of Ghana policy rate were below 10 percent and 12.5 percent. He described the GH�937.6 million that the banks lost in 2010 as frightening, saying it had made it increase the cost of accessing credit. In the said year, the 27 banks wrote off the loss as bad debts because the debtors could not honour their obligations to the banks.