President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo has advised Ghanaian companies to position themselves to take
advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) policy.
The AfCFTA, with its
headquarters coming to Ghana, is set to cover a market of 1.2 billion people at
an estimated GDP of $3 billion across the 54-member states of the African Union.
It would also serve as the
vehicle for Ghana to trade with other member states in a more modern and
sophisticated manner.
Speaking at the first Chief
Executive Officers (CEOs) Executive Forum in Accra yesterday, the President
said, “Empowered Ghanaian businesses and enterprises should be frontline actors
in this new exciting journey in Africa’s economic history.”
As part of efforts by
government to create a business friendly environment in Ghana, President
Akufo-Addo said he had requested the leadership of the Bank of Ghana to
expedite action on addressing the high interest rates challenge that clearly
affects the private sector negatively as far as the ease of doing business is
concerned.
“I have requested the
governor to interrogate the issue of high interest rate in Ghana and how the
problem could be addressed to enhance the competitiveness of the private sector,”
he said.
On his part, Trade and Industry
Minister Alan Kyerematen said government
was introducing a Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) mechanism to engage all CEOs in
Ghana to foster an all-year round interaction that would ensure that government
listens to the ultimate decision makers of corporate Ghana.
That, he said, was a build
up on previous ones such as the Ghana Investors Advisory Council that was introduced
during the previous Kufuor-led administration, the
private enterprise foundation introduced to create a body to present a single
voice for the private sector, and the national economic forum created under the
former administration.
The Trade Minister
indicated that the dialogue would be an all-year round activity that would
extend to other regions apart from Accra.
Additionally, a coordinating mechanism in the form of a secretariat has since been established to facilitate the activities of the PPD mechanism and process the outcome of all PPD engagements into policy interventions of the government.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent
