{"id":439579,"date":"2017-11-21T17:32:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T17:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/11\/21\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\/"},"modified":"2017-11-21T17:32:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T17:32:03","slug":"agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/11\/21\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\/","title":{"rendered":"AGI welcomes key budget initiatives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/AGI.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"> <\/aside>\n<p>The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has lauded the 2018 Budget, saying, some of the policies and initiatives introduced will result in growth of the country\u2019s industrial sector.<\/p>\n<p>Outgoing president of the business lobby, James Asare-Adjei, singled out the power tariff reductions for praise \u2013 although he said they expected it to be more.<\/p>\n<p>Government has proposed the following power tariff reductions: residential 13 percent; non-residential 13 percent; special load tariff\u2014low voltage 13 percent; special load tariff\u2014medium voltage 11 percent; special load tariff\u2014high voltage 14 percent; and high voltage 21 percent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAGI lauds the 2018 budget. In fact, we welcome key initiatives of the budget, particularly when it comes to the proposed reduction in the cost of tariffs on electricity. It is a good initiative in ensuring that industry becomes more competitive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLargely, the budget is building on the stability that has been achieved in the year 2017. It gives the dimension of growth to the economy. So, AGI lauds the budget because it specifically looked at certain areas that will stimulate the economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He however urged government to provide an energy mix that will make power even cheaper to industry in order to help it compete with others in the sub-region and in the world at large.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would have wished that a lot more reduction could have been applied to the tariffs. You know, at the moment we are competing with companies in the sub-region or globally where energy tariffs are way down. While we are paying over 20cent\/kwh, some are paying 15cent\/kwh or less. In places like China, they are paying 3 or 4 cents\/kwh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, while we applaud government\u2019s bold initiative of really proposing to reduce the energy tariffs, we should look critically at dedicating cheaper sources of power like hydro to industry \u2013 because that is what will make businesses competitive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Government also announced in the budget that it will set up a development bank to help address the financing challenges of businesses, and here, too, the AGI president was full of praise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet me also mention that government\u2019s decision to set up a development bank is in line with AGI\u2019s initiative of promoting an industrial development bank \u2013 of which an initiative has been taken in applying for a provisional licence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAGI will be much prepared to partner with government in establishing a development bank of that nature. One of the challenges that industry faces in the country involves accessing medium- to long-term capital. So, it is a bold initiative from government,\u201d Mr. Asare Adjei said. \u2013 B&amp;FT<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;js.src = \"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=1136575713042949&version=v2.3\";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><script>(function(d, s, id) {var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) return;js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;js.src = \"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.6\";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has lauded the 2018 Budget, saying, some of the policies and initiatives introduced will result in growth of the country\u2019s industrial sector. Outgoing president of the business lobby, James Asare-Adjei, singled out the power tariff reductions for praise \u2013 although he said they expected it to be more. Government [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":439580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-439579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AGI welcomes key budget initiatives - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/11\/21\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"AGI welcomes key budget initiatives - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has lauded the 2018 Budget, saying, some of the policies and initiatives introduced will result in growth of the country\u2019s industrial sector. Outgoing president of the business lobby, James Asare-Adjei, singled out the power tariff reductions for praise \u2013 although he said they expected it to be more. Government [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"AGI welcomes key budget initiatives\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-21T17:32:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":430,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/\",\"name\":\"AGI welcomes key budget initiatives - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-21T17:32:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/21\\\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AGI welcomes key budget initiatives - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/11\/21\/agi-welcomes-key-budget-initiatives\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"AGI welcomes key budget initiatives - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has lauded the 2018 Budget, saying, some of the policies and initiatives introduced will result in growth of the country\u2019s industrial sector. Outgoing president of the business lobby, James Asare-Adjei, singled out the power tariff reductions for praise \u2013 although he said they expected it to be more. 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