Society must commit to higher levels of discipline- JAK

Accra, Oct. 9, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday asked the entire Ghanaian society to be committed to higher levels of discipline, increased productivity and the pursuit of excellence to break new grounds to push the national economy forward.

The Government on its part, he said, was determined to ensure sustained and realistic balance of enhanced incentive system and continued good governance.

Additionally, it would see to it that the needed supervisory and national regulatory mechanisms were firmly in place.

President Kufuor was speaking at an Economic Roundtable Discussion held at the M. Plaza Hotel in Accra.

The event, organised by the Economist Conferences, a division of the Economist Intelligence Unit, brought together key Economic Ministers, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, foreign investors and local business leaders to exchange ideas on the development of the private sector.

It provided a platform for the participants to closely examine the main challenges and opportunities for business and the most promising investment sectors and provided answers to some of the key questions.

President Kufuor, whose address was on the theme; " Fifty years of Independence: Where to now?" stated that, the country has now achieved reasonable measure of macro-economic stability and economic growth.

Inflation and banks' lending rates continue to drop from very high levels of over 40 per cent and over 50 per cent respectively in 2001 to current inflation level of around 10 per cent and lending rate of 19 per cent.

"With this new confidence, the country is taking some bold and measured steps into the international capital market with issuance of bonds to raise funds for investments in infrastructure development and for the development of the energy sector."

President Kufuor said this should remove the structural bottlenecks within the economy and put it on a trajectory of accelerated growth.

The success of this measure should help to wean Ghana from its dependence on donor aid to self-sufficiency.

He mentioned the establishment of the International Financial Services Centre in partnership with the Barclays Bank, as another significant step taken, and expressed optimism that with time, this would make the nation a major international financial hub of the Sub-Region.

He said the Government was making sustained efforts to grow the private sector to become the main generator of jobs and this was reflected in policy measures to facilitate the establishment of businesses, training for operatives of the sector as well as provision of financial support for micro, small and medium-sized companies. There were also other public/private sector initiatives such as increasing developments in the Free Ports (Export Processing Zones), policy of value addition, attraction of investors on win-win basis and the Presidential Special Initiatives (PSIs) on oil palm and garment villages, among others.

"Ghana is looking into the future with confidence, determined to stay on the democratic course in order to sustain the breakthrough which has been long in coming."

Responding to concerns about the growing Chinese presence in Africa, President Kufuor said, "We have come of age and should be able to negotiate our way into partnership."