Parliament considers bill to improve export/industrialisation

Government’s quest to provide the right policy framework to boost export trade, agriculture and industrial growth has been given a decisive lift with Parliament’s consideration of the proposed law.

The House, on Wednesday, read for the second time the Export Trade, Agriculture and Industrial Development Fund Bill, that seeks to establish a mechanism to provide financial resources for the development of those sectors, which Government laid before it for approval.

The Fund, when approved, will enhance the development and promotion of export trade and agriculture in relation to agro-processing and industrialization. Alhaji Amadu Sorogho, Chairman of the Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism, and Member of Parliament for Madina, who presented the Committee’s report on the bill to the House, said Ghana’s emerging position as a regional economic hub would be given the needed impetus when the bill was approved.

This is because anticipated increase in the levels of exports in the agricultural and industrial sectors would contribute to the country’s economic expansion.

He said the Fund would establish synergies with specialised institutions such as the Exim Guarantee Company, the Export Finance Company, and Venture Capital Trust Fund to achieve its purpose and would have regional structures throughout the country.

Alhaji Sorogho said the Fund would be utilised for research and development, and for promotion, credit facilitation, projects and equity financing. “It is the hope of the Committee that the Fund will nurture the development of small and medium enterprises, undertake research, monitoring and evaluation on the impact of interventions on export trade and agriculture related to agro-processing,” he said.

He said the passage of the bill had the potential of providing and expanding the resource envelop, adding; “it would be a major economic growth of the Ghanaian private sector as access to credit increases and cost of the credit decreases.”

The Fund will draw resource from levy on the dutiable value of import, 10 per cent of the net proceeds from divestiture carried out by the Divestiture Implementation Committee, as well as any other monies that the Finance Minister, with the approval of Parliament, determines to be paid into it.