Business community urged to invest in the North

Tamale, Feb. 10, GNA - Mr Andrew Awuni, Deputy Minister of Information on Monday called on the business community, both in the country and abroad to seize the opportunity of the year's "tax friendly" budget to invest in the Northern regions to boost the economy there. He said the Shea Nut processing company, which had a private initative based in Kumasi could also seize the opportunity and move towards locating it anywhere in the Northern Region, since the government had lifted payment of Tax on industries located in any part of the three northern regions.

Mr Andrew Awuni made the appeal at a regional forum on the 2004 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government in Tamale. The forum was aimed at bringing the Budget Statement closer to the people at the regional levels and to see how the people would embrace or object to certain aspects of the statement.

More than 200 people drawn from all the 13 districts of the Northern region, including some District Chief Executives, heads of department, NGOs as well as civil society groups took part in the forum. Mr Awuni said the north was rich with raw materials such as sheanuts, groundnuts, cotton, soyabeans and fertile land but lacked the funding to embark on mass production that could help alleviate their poverty.

He said the NPP government was interested in enriching the individuals particularly the rural poor to ensure that their poverty level was reduced.

Mr Awuni said establishing industries in the north now would not only boost the economy there but investors were bound to gain enormous profits and that government would stand solidly behind any investor that would invest in the north.

Mr Ernest Debrah, Northern Regional Minister, in a speech read for him, observed that the non-availability of income-generating activities in the north was one major factor for the numerous conflicts.

He suggested the need for the government and the District Assemblies to undertake commercial ventures at the micro-level that would keep the people occupied all year round so that they would refrain from unproductive acts.

The minister said some districts in the north had been identified for cotton and cassava production and that commercial production of guinea corn and maize would soon be undertaken to boost the economy in the north.

Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, who read excepts of the Budget Statement and Economic policy to participants stressed government's commitment to ensuring that every Ghanaian benefited from the national cake.

Some participants called on the District Assemblies, especially those in the north to collaborate and pool resources, rather than relying heavily on the Common Fund, to establish income-generating projects that would bring employment to the people to reduce poverty in the north.

Some of them commended the government for creating the avenue for investors to establish industries in the north by exempting tax on industries and other agricultural inputs, warning government not to impose heavy tax on the people if it is voted back to power.

Others called on the government to expedite plans and efforts to sell Low Cost houses to workers to enhance their living conditions. Highlights of the Budget read to the people included: Tax relief to individuals and businesses, creating a more friendly environment to support businesses, revenue mobilisation, overview of performance in 2003, modernized Agriculture and enhanced social services.