Tuesday.
Speaking at the maiden breakfast meeting of the Canadian Chamber of
Commerce Ghana, Mr Pianim said the low rate of inflation and the
relative stable exchange rate offered opportunity to the country to
tap into the global market for funds to tackle the infrastructure
deficit.
Besides, he said, commercial oil production gave the country a
glimpse of hope as the oil proceeds could be leveraged for direct
investment into areas such as roads, energy and housing, among other
things.
However, Mr Pianim warned that heavy reliance on the oil sector at
the expense of the other sectors could undermine economic growth and
create problems for the country. Nana Owusu Afari, the President of the Association of Ghana Industries, said a good business climate allowed businesses to operate with minimal interference from government, noting, however, that this was only possible when there were strong institutions to back the operations.
He said the unbridled trade liberalization policies continued to
impact negatively on local manufacturing businesses with many of them
facing imminent closure because of the intense competition from
imports.
He cited the undeveloped infrastructure, access and cost of credit,
energy cost and market size as major barriers to industrialization and
the country’s economic growth. Nana Owusu Afari said government policy should move more towards policies that would help industries to expand and grow and that was the only way to create jobs and wealth from which government could get more taxes.
Ms Hannah Tetteh, the Minister of Trade and Industry, said to
accelerate the development of local industries government would ensure
that a Domestic Industrial Competitiveness Bill was passed this year.
The bill seeks to promote increased competitiveness and enhanced
industrial production and also to ensure a broad range of fair-priced,
better quality products for the domestic and international markets.
The Minister said a Private Sector Development Council and a Board
would soon be constituted to give further impetus to the
implementation of the Private Sector Development Strategy all in an
effort to get the private sector to accelerate the pace of economic
growth and development.
Alhaji Abudulai Nantogmah, President of the Canadian Chamber of
Commerce Ghana, said the country’s industrial sector must be
positioned well to enable it to deal with future challenges to be
better placed to tap into economic opportunities.
He said the Chamber was willing to support government and
stakeholders in a collective effort to create wealth and reduce
poverty.
Originally posted here: