The Financial Secretary for GUTA, Nana Kwabena Peprah, has urged the government to support local manufacturers, especially rice and poultry farmers, to produce more locally.
That, he said, will help boost the economy and as well save importers from the stress of buying dollars to import goods.
He said this following the President’s speech on the economy.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo addressing the country on the economy on Sunday, October 2022, said as much as the Government believes in free trade, the country must work to ensure that the majority of goods in our shops and market places are those produced and grown here in Ghana.
“My fellow Ghanaians, the success of our efforts at diversifying the structure of the Ghanaian economy from an import-based one to a value-added exporting one is what will, in the long term, help strengthen our economy. We are making some progress with the 1D1F but our current situation requires that we take some more stringent measures to discourage the importation of goods that we can and do produce here,” he said.
He continued that,”To this end, we will review the standards required for imports into the country, prioritise the imports, as well as review the management of our foreign exchange reserves, in relation to imports of products such as rice, poultry, vegetable oil, tooth picks, pasta, fruit juice, bottled water and ceramic tiles, and others which, with intensified government support and that of the banking sector, can be manufactured and produced in sufficient quantities in Ghana. The Government will, in May 2023, that is six (6) months from now, review the situation. We must, as a matter of urgent national security, reduce our dependence on imported goods, and enhance our self-reliance, as demanded by our overarching goal of creating a Ghana Beyond Aid.”
The President stressed that,”Much as we believe in free trade, we must work to ensure that the majority of goods in our shops and market places are those we produce and grow here in Ghana. That is why we have to support our farmers and domestic industries, including those created under the 1-District-1-Factory initiative, to help reduce our dependence on imports, and allow us the opportunity to export more and more of our products, and guarantee a stable currency that will present a high level of predictability for citizens and the business community. Exports, not imports, must be our mantra! Accra, after all, hosts the headquarters of the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area.”
Read Also: Full text: Akufo-Addo’s address to the nation on the economy
Speaking on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie with Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, Nana Kwabena Peprah said although GUTA was happy about the measures by the Government, he said the government should create an enabling environment for the measures put in place to materialise.
“We need to create an enabling environment. If we say that we want to produce everything here, we need to ask where we can put up a factory, ask about the market, ask if the raw materials are available, what the Ghanaian people want it and when it happens like that, you have to put money into it and after everything if the measures put in place by government succeed, then we will all go to church to thank God. Because the stress you have to go through when clearing your goods at the port will reduce, he said.
Meanwhile, he also reiterated that the Government should support local producers financially, help build their capacities to produce more in order to cut down on importation.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori