{"id":465917,"date":"2018-02-20T12:11:34","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T12:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2018\/02\/20\/world-bank-boss-wants-govt-to-cut-down-on-imports\/"},"modified":"2018-02-20T12:11:34","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T12:11:34","slug":"world-bank-boss-wants-govt-to-cut-down-on-imports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/02\/20\/world-bank-boss-wants-govt-to-cut-down-on-imports\/","title":{"rendered":"World Bank boss wants gov\u2019t to cut down on imports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Business News of Tuesday, 20 February 2018<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>thebftonline.com<\/p>\n<p>2018-02-20<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/44429873.295.jpg\" alt=\"Henry Kerali222\" title=\"Henry Kerali222\" width=\"295\" height=\"191\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Henry Kerali<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n<p>\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=151125813973067\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=151125813973067\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1519128694_855_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Henry Kerali, has advised that government turn its attention to reducing food imports so as to revitalise the Agricultural sector, which can contribute in improving the economy.<\/p>\n<p>He asked that government take steps to make the Agricultural sector even more attractive than it is today, by attracting investors with the right incentives.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a stakeholders\u2019 forum organised by the American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana, on the topic \u2018Ghana\u2019s Economy: Moving from Stabilisation to Growth\u2019, Mr. Kerali said government must cut down on the high level of imports, especially with regard to food.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have seen a very high rate of imports, which is not good for the economy. Ghana, in 2016 alone, imported close to 2 billion dollars\u2019 worth of food \u2013 in a country that has plenty of land, very highly qualified people, and plenty of skills. Though some personnel are not trained, at least you have people who are able to operate machinery. So, why is this happening in Ghana? It\u2019s a clear example of the Dutch disease. This is something that needs to be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Kerali added that though growth in 2017 has actually been very positive due to very good macroeconomic management, food inflation however continues to be a concern.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFood inflation however continues to be a concern, primarily because of the level of food imports; and if any of you, investors, are looking to invest, then the food sector is the right place to invest in as it has huge potential. I say this because there is a lot of money to be made in there, and there is also a lot of demand for food in Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He however praised managers of the economy for the country\u2019s economic growth in 2017, and described it as positive.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, \u201cI am not Ghanaian; so, I want to quickly say that I am not speaking on behalf of government or any party, but I am just talking about numbers. If you look at the quarterly growth rates for 2016 and 2017, there is quite a large difference. Inflation now is pretty close to the Bank of Ghana target of 8% +\/-2%\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, government \u2013 through its flagship \u2018Planting for Food and Jobs\u2019 programme \u2013 is on a campaign to turn farmlands and backyards into a huge food basket that is expected to cut down the country\u2019s food import bill drastically.<\/p>\n<p>Modelled along the lines of the highly successful \u2018Operation Feed Yourself (OFY)\u2019 programme of the 1970s, the initiative is expected to be driven by 200,000 farmers to be selected nationwide, as well as individuals willing to cultivate vegetables and other crops in their backyard.<\/p>\n<p>The programme, which has already taken-off, also has tax incentives for companies \u2013 including breweries and food processing companies \u2013 that are willing to go into farming to feed their factories.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, maize, rice, soybean, sorghum and vegetables, as well as tomato, onion and pepper, were the five main crops expected to be concentrated on.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign in 2017 was expected to yield food valued at GH\u00a21.3 billion.<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 3 updated by: 3 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\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>Business News of Tuesday, 20 February 2018 Source: thebftonline.com 2018-02-20 World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Henry Kerali The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Henry Kerali, has advised that government turn its attention to reducing food imports so as to revitalise the Agricultural sector, which can contribute in improving the economy. He asked that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":415749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-465917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}