Kwame Pianim
Government has been urged to take advantage of the stable macro-economic environment to close the infrastructural gap to accelerate development.
Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist, who made the call in Accra yesterday at the maiden breakfast meeting of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Ghana, said low inflation and the relative stable exchange rate offer the 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 in areas such as roads, energy and housing, among others.
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.”
On his part, Nana Owusu Afari, President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), said a good business climate allows businesses to operate with minimal interference from government, noting that this could become possible when there are 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, among others, as major barriers to industrialization and the country’s economic growth.
Nana Owusu Afari said government policy should be targeted at policies that would help industries to expand, saying that was the only way to create jobs and wealth from which government could get more taxes.
Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, said to accelerate the development of local industries government will ensure that a Domestic Industrial Competiveness Bill is passed this year.
The Bill seeks to promote competition and enhance industrial production to ensure a broad range of fair-priced, quality products for the domestic and international markets.
The Minister said a Private Sector Development Council and a Board will 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 to enable it deal with future challenges to tap into economic opportunities.
He said the Chamber was willing to support government and stakeholders to create wealth and reduce poverty.
Alhaji Nantogmah called on financial institutions to reduce lending rates in order to make local businesses more competitive.
The purpose of the breakfast meeting was to discuss the state of businesses in Ghana.
By Felix Dela Klutse
