President Akufo-Addo at 1D1f facory
1D1F and PFJ will suffer if benchmark discount is retained – Dr Ayim-Darke
Discount on benchmark a disincentive to private investment – AGI
No investor will invest in a country with an influx of imported goods – AGI president
The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has said government retaining the discount on the benchmark values will go against its policies and programmes.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra, the president of AGI, Humphrey Ayim-Darke, said retaining the discount will negatively affect the government’s programmes like the One District One Factory (1D1F), Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) which is aimed at transforming Ghana’s economy and creating more jobs.
He said retaining the discount will make some of the industries established by the government under its initiatives redundant.
“To mention a few, we have seen the Government commissioned the Savelugu rice factory in August and Sefwi Akontombra rice factory in September just last year. These two recent investments totalling about GHC14 million risk becoming redundant if such large rice imports persist,” the AGI president was quoted by GNA.
According to him, the disruption in global supply chains during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic has proved why it is important to have a vibrant local manufacturing sector.
“With the disruption of global supply chains, high cost of raw materials and freight during the pandemic, we all saw the need to quickly scale-up the development of our local supply chains,” he said.
“Today, we are all complaining of the rising cost of freight. But the more dependent we are on imports, the more likely we are to bear the brunt of such high freight costs and the reverse holds true,” he added.
He said the discount on the benchmark values would lead to lead to an influx of imported goods which discourages private investment.
“Investor confidence is waning, and no investor would like to invest in a real sector that is currently exposed to the influx of imports as we have,” he explained.