Government to set up recovery fund

Accra, June 5, GNA - Government is to set up a special fund to bail out local distressed companies to ensure that they were equipped and became operational.

The Fund to be known as the Special Purpose Recovery Trust would be used to help local companies, which had become incapacitated not necessarily because of managerial inefficiencies but through the poor performance of the economy. Beneficiary companies under the programme would get financial assistance from government to overhaul their operations in exchange for government acquiring equity shares in them.

The government shares would gradually be off-loaded to the companies once their operations had become viable and they were in the position to pay off the money.

Mr Alan Kyerematen, Minister of Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiatives, announced this at a meeting with members of the Governing Council of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra on Thursday. The meeting was to discuss ways through which Fellows of the Academy could bring their research findings to bear on government policies and the country's development agenda.

Mr Kyerematen said this arrangement was a very good way to get the companies hit by the economic downturn to bring their activities back on stream. He said as much as the government sought to create new industries, it also had the firm belief that old industries that were in distress must be revived to create more jobs as well as play a proactive role in the country's development agenda.

The meeting also touched on the strategies that the Ministry was pursuing to accelerate economic growth and to reduce poverty.

Mr! Kyerematen said apart from the focus on export-led industrialisation, the government was also actively adopting an aggressive import substitution drive to reduce the import bill by cutting down on the import of all non-petroleum products by 70 per cent.

There are also plans to cut by half all agriculture products that are imported into the country.

The Minister said the targets could be achieved by focusing on government procurement since it was easy to control.

"Besides we need to develop competitive industries for the items that we could produce at home."

He said the export strategy was predicated on agro-processing through the mass mobilisation of rural communities.

Nana (Dr) S.K.B Asante, President of the Academy, said the Academy was seeking new ways of improving its communications with government and institutions so that it could help to shape the country's policy and economic direction.