We’ll shift focus from taxation to production – Akufo-Addo

President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo, has stated his administration will shift the focus of the country’s economic management from taxation to production in order to deliver progress to Ghanaians.

According to him, the vision of the incoming government is to build a fair and prosperous society in a democratic and united nation.

“To achieve this, we need a well-educated and skilled population, an efficient public service with strong institutions and a competitive economy that is capable of producing sustainable growth, jobs and shared benefits for all,” he said.

The president-elect was speaking at the post-AGM private sector forum of the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) on Wednesday.

He said the PEF constitutes a critical part of the solution to the main task of the incoming government administration to be led by him and that he needs to have them on board “right from the start and there can’t be a better time…

“…If, as we believe, the private sector is to lead in the development of the national economy, PEF and its members are key constituents in any discussion on Ghana’s future.”

According to him, he was enthused about the sense of optimism and hope among the business community since the Electoral Commission (EC) pronounced him as the country’s president-elect in the just ended 2016 presidential race.

The role of the government, he said would be to create the atmosphere for the private sector to flourish stating that “we aim to achieve double digit GDP growth annually for the next four years, and this is possible if you remember that under the Kufuor-led NPP government the economy attained a GDP growth rate of 9.1% in 2008 without oil.”

He continued that his government would reduce the cost of doing business, maintain fiscal discipline, reduce government borrowing and reduce interest rates to spur private sector investment.

“Our economic programme will enhance agricultural production and productivity, along with a transformation of the economy through value- addition to our raw materials in a process of rapid industrialization,” he pledged.