Employers’ Association discuses ‘Business Agenda’ document

The Ghana Employers’ Association (GEA) on Wednesday, held a breakfast meeting with industry players in Accra, to discuss its draft Business Agenda document for the 2016-2018 years.

The document, outlines the strategic issues the Association would pursue during the next three years, and focuses on key areas such as energy, skills development and healthcare, which are critical to the growth and competitiveness of the private sector.

Mr Charles Asante Bempong, Director of Research and Projects at the Ghana Employers’ Association, said the private sector’s roles as a key engine of economic development, and an important partner for sustainable and inclusive economic growth, which was critical in reducing poverty, was currently being recognised both in Ghana and across the world.

He said in spite of these contributions, the fundamental question regarding how the country’s private sector was being developed to actually boost economic growth and reduce poverty remains unanswered.

He said a study carried out by the GEA revealed that the current energy crisis has had a telling effect on businesses with some industries laying off staff, and others working at less than full capacity due to the unreliability of power and the high cost of doing business, lack of skills and the difficulties in obtaining quality and affordable health care.

“These challenges are inimical to the growth and competitiveness of the private sector in Ghana,” he said.

Mr Bempong said the GEA believes that broad-based and rapid economic growth, largely due to private sector development, could have a dramatic positive impact on economic transformation and poverty reduction, and to this end, the Association would continue to deepen its advocacy action in the critical areas as identified, to complement government’s efforts to accelerate private sector development.

The meeting therefore created the platform for stakeholders to discuss and make impute into the document, which would provide adequate data on the situation on the ground and serve as an advocacy tool for change through effective dialogue with government and policy makers.

Mr Bempong said the challenges facing the private sector could also be traced to regular poor economic performance, the largely ineffective support given by the public sector to public sector operations, as well as the lack of concerted effort by all stakeholders to act and collaborate in ways that would make the country an attractive investment destination.

He said outside these areas, appropriate credit, especially for manufacturing, was limited, coupled with the fact that small and informal firms that dominate the sector have not benefited from the right skills and knowledge needed to make the efficient and able to compete locally and internationally with their products and services.

“The result of these is the shortage of sustainable employment and the high unemployment rate especially among the youth,”he said.

He said the ineffectiveness of policies, rules and regulations as well as the processes by which the public sector should support private sector activities have created many barriers to operations in the private sector.

He said it was against this backdrop that the GEA Business Agenda 2016-2018, has been developed to address critical areas which are hampering the growth and competitiveness of the private sector in Ghana.

The Business Agenda would concentrate its advocacy on the key areas identified through surveys by the Association, and give a detailed analysis of each of the issues using evidenced-based data from Ghana and other countries, and seeks to discuss their effects on businesses and provide specific recommendations for redress through the engagement of key policy makers.