Trade Minister pushes for private sector to lead Ghana's development

Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, has said Ghana needs to focus on developing its private sector to enable it to reach a state where it can fund its own development.

Mr Kyerematen who noted that the private sector in most developed countries accounts for a larger number of job creation indicated that a focus on the country’s private sector will enable it to achieve the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda.

Mr Kyerematen said this at the launch of the Ghana Business Regulatory Reforms Portal on Thursday, 27 August 2020.

The portal will enable policymakers to easily consult affected businesses and individuals in a transparent and timely manner at a much considerable cost saving.

It will also aid government working in consultation with the private sector to anchor doing business reforms on a permanent and sustainable basis.

This is in line with the vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid.

Mr Kyerematen noted that there is no better time than in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic for the country to begin to produce for its own consumption instead of relying on other countries.

“As a country, we have no choice but to begin to realise that we have to increasingly become self-reliant. The country where we have such a sentimental attachment to importing almost everything.

"This disruption in global supply chain is teaching us a lesson that it will come to a time when those who are supposed to export to you, will themselves be struggling to keep what they produce in their own countries.

"So, there could be no better time than now for us as a country to realise that we need to produce ourselves, the things that we consume."

He also emphasised on unemployment being one of the major challenges facing the country and reiterated that the government depends on the private sector to create jobs.

“It is established beyond doubt all over the world that employment is not created by governments. Jobs are not created by governments but by the private sector.

"The most advanced economies in the world depend on the private sector to create jobs.

"In Ghana, public sector employment accounts for only about 650,000 maximum 700,000 jobs but we have a labour force of almost 12 million and every year graduates from our tertiary institutions number over 300,000,” the Minister said.

“It means that we have to create an environment which will attract private capital.

"So when we talk about investment climate or business regulatory environment, it is at the centre of getting the private sector to lead our development,” he added.