Ghana requires 8% economic growth for 10 to 15 years - Dr Yamson

Chairman of Ishmael Yamson and Associates, Dr Ishmael Yamson says Ghana needs to attain consistent economic growth rates in order to build a robust economy.

He was also of the view that for Ghana to reduce the high level of unemployment and create an expanded economy which would have the capacity to absorb more young people into the job market, it needs to grow above 8% for about 10 to 15 years.

In the past, he said, Ghana has had an unimpressive growth rate, varying from 2 to 10 percent in different years, and anything below 7 percent in subsequent years would be insubstantial towards building a robust economy.

Dr Yamson lamented that Ghana’s impediment to high growth rate over the years has been the overdependence on commodities.

The problem with overdependence on raw commodities for economic growth, he noted, is that periods of high commodity prices mostly coincide with high economic growth, and since Ghana does not control prices of raw materials, it becomes difficult to depend on that for growth.

Given that, he said Ghana needs to build an economy driven by manufacturing, value-added agriculture production, services and adding value to its commodities.

Dr Yamson was speaking to The Finder on the sidelines at the media launch of Ishmael Yamson and Associate’s fifth business roundtable dialogue, to be held on May 30, 2017 in Accra.

The roundtable will bring together business executives, stakeholders, policymakers and non-governmental organisations to discuss current issues that serve as potential indicators of how the country’s economy is faring and what can be done to better the economy.

The event, which will be on the theme ‘Ghana, in search of prosperity’, will enable participants explore strategies which can help the country deliver strong and sustainable economic performance.

Speaking at the launch, Dr Ishmael Yamson said the discussion will be centred on five keys areas, which, when properly maintained, will help Ghana gain economic transformation and help citizens enjoy prosperity.

“The speakers and roundtable discussions will address five key topics, that is good corporate governance, national and enterprise level competitiveness as drivers for creating prosperity, leveraging the power and potential of Ghana’s human capital, social mobility and stability, as well as security. All these areas are connected”, he said.

“We need people to understand the current and emerging issues and opportunities of Ghana’s economy and the impact of these on us. The country must come to appreciate the consequence that will come with failing to provide prosperity for its people.

“We also need to, as a country, identify available opportunities to drive the national economic transformation, increase enterprise level growth, and create widespread prosperity”, he added.

Speakers at the event will include Charles O. Boamah, who is the Senior Vice-President of the African Development Bank Group; Kojo Addae-Mensah, Group Chief Executive Officer at Databank Asset Management Services Ltd; Kwesi Anning, Security Analyst; and Paul Kingsley Acquah, former Deputy Director for the Africa Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).