We’ll achieve Ghana Beyond Aid vision within next decade – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says his government is positioning the country to achieve the Ghana Beyond Aid vision within the next decade.

He said the policies and programmes being implemented by the government were aimed at building a self-sustaining economy without external support.

He is optimistic that the vision will be realised by the next decade.

President Akufo-Addo said this when the Vice President of the World Bank, Dr Hafez Ghanem called on him at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday as part of his three-day working visit in the country.

Dr Ghanem is expected to hold meetings with top government officials on how the bank can assist Ghana to utilise its excess supply of gas to develop other sectors of the economy.

There will also be discussions on the need to develop a digital economy and the relevant decisions needed to build such an economy.

President Akufo-Addo said Ghana, with a population of 30 million people and with considerable resources in their natural form could develop a self-sustaining economy without external support.

“We want to have an economy which will reduce considerably, our dependence on external financing from the international donor agencies to finance our education, health service,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo told the World Bank Vice President to consider the country’s process of transition in his meetings and discussions with the relevant stakeholders in the country.

He thanked the World Bank for being a consistent and reliable friend to Ghana since its independence and noted that the country had, so far, benefitted from US$11 billion support from the bank.

However, he said Ghana was at the crossroad of its development, looking to take measures to enable its economy grow by transitioning from exporting raw materials to adding value to its raw materials.

“We are finding new ways to modernise our economy. The things that you make are what attract high value and that’s where we are focusing our attention and energy,” he said.

As part of the efforts, he said the government was putting measures in place for rapid development of the country’s human capital and equip young people with the skills needed to transform the country.

“We have had 16 bailout programmes. It doesn’t make sense. The discipline in the management of our public finance has not been there. We understand that that is what gives our economy strong macro-economic fundamentals and allow us to position ourselves well,” he said.

Dr Ghanem commended the country for making efforts to industrialise the economy and stressed the need for the government to connect to international value chains to reap the full benefits.

He also commended efforts being made to develop the country’s infrastructure and the human capital and advised the government to focus more on using technology to improve the quality of education, increase financial inclusion, among others.