The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, has reiterated his government’s determination to building a country independent of charity and handouts from the West. He said he will build an economy that will properly manage and utilize local resources to engineer social and economic growth.
Nana Akufo-Addo made this known when he interacted with the Ghanaian community in Geneva where he is expected to participate in the ongoing 5th Africa CEO Forum. He told the Ghanaians in Geneva that they must come onboard to support the transformation he seeks to bring to Ghana.
He assured them of government’s determination to strengthen the private sector and ensure a reduction in the country’s fiscal deficit from 9% to 6% this year. According to him, the government is introducing a number of strategies aimed at creating an enabling environment for businesses. “We have decided that it is important to provide stimulus to the tune of US$100 million to local industry that are in distressed state, and to assist new companies to grow in the country,” he said.
The NPP government, he said, will address the challenges confronting the agricultural sector as part of measures to revamp the economy and called on business owners to support him make that happen. He sad Ghana is open for business, stressing that the creation of a conducive business environment will ensure that their businesses flourish, thereby creating prosperity for the Ghanaian people.
According to him, the private sector has suffered a number challenges including, lack of access to credit, high interest rates, erratic power supply and a generally bad business climate, but his government is seeking to reverse the development. “Our first budget outlines some fairly radical new measures. A lot of the taxes that were brought up, in the period where our deficit was growing, have either been reduced or abolished.
We have taken off as much as GH¢1 billion in taxes out of the revenue net for the doing of business in Ghana, with the commitment of doing more…If the country is to make any meaningful change in the lives of the people, our efforts must be directed at this sector. The majority of people can only feel a change in their lives when we develop agriculture,” he said. On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr. Yofi Grant, who is also with the President in Switzerland, said that government is introducing some reforms needed to make Ghana attractive for investment.
He revealed that government has set very ambitious targets that when met, will make the country the preferred choice for business investments. He cited government’s recent announcement of tax cuts as incentives aimed at ensuring private businesses were not overly burdened doing business in the country.
“The sentiment of the party out of which his government is borne is instinctively to look for private sector solutions to the economic issues in our country,” he said, and called on Ghanaian businesses abroad to look to Ghana as a place to do business.
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