Gov't tasked to prioritise bottom-up approach

Dr Raziel Obeng-Okon, Chief Executive Officer of CIDAN Investment Limited, has urged the government to focus more on the bottom-up approach of development to redeem the nation from the current economic challenges.

He said the government must target economic policies focusing on the informal sector, which constitutes the majority of the productive capacity, rather than the existing top-down approach where the emphasis continue to be on macro-economic gains - Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).

Speaking to reporters at Kumasi at the weekend, Dr Obeng-Okon explained that a significant number of informal sector players could be found in agriculture and trading.

He said the average growth for agriculture during 2010-2013 was only 2.7%, an indication of the rhetoric ambition without much investment into the sector.

“It is about time we made conscious efforts to rope in the informal sector as the basis of growing our GDP,” he said.

“This route is the narrow gate to economic prosperity (domestication), even though it might be time-consuming.

“Our government must stop the short-term fire-fighting approaches to solving problems because it leads to only short-term solutions. What we need is a strategic national policy of development to be implemented by all successive governments,” he said.

He also identified key macro-economic challenges as the growing budget deficit, increasing levels of public debt and youth unemployment.

Dr Obeng-Okon said in terms of GDP growth rates, the economy of Ghana had more than doubled in nominal terms between 2009 and 2013.

“Our GDP growth rate has averaged 7% in recent years as against an average growth rate of 4.9% per-annum for the Sub-Sahara African continent and the global average of 3.2%,” he said.

“Ghana is among three African countries, including South Africa and Nigeria, to have attracted significant foreign direct investment during the decade,” he said.

He said the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) attracted 199 Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) projects into areas such as solar power generation, financial services, manufacturing of beverages, real estate development, growing and milling of rice, cultivation, and processing of rubber and oil palm.

Dr Obeng-Okon said per the budget statement of 2014, this had created employment for 75,161 people, comprising 63,781 Ghanaians and 11,380 expatriates.

He noted that another indicator of the international confidence in the economy of Ghana is reflected in the successful recent issuance of bonds and its over-subscription by the international financial community.

“This may be a testament to the high investor confidence in the economy of Ghana,” he said.

He, therefore, urged the government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to continue with policies such as the regulation of credit unions, rural and agricultural finance.

He said such programmes to support improved and sustained livelihoods of the rural poor, particularly women, and vulnerable groups must not be left to the background, but “must be pursued vigorously with equal attention as for formal sector projects.”

Dr Obeng-Okon noted that Ghana had the potential to create wealth and become self-sufficient if it optimised the use of the natural and human resources efficiently.

“We must employ the right skill mix and institute productivity-based work ethics across the public sector using key measurable variables,” he said.

“The taxpayers’ money should not be used to pay lazy and corrupt government officials. We need to move away from the politics of misinformation and disinformation by not relying too much on those who shout the loudest on political platforms,” he said.