We're building a resilient economy - Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the work being undertaken by his government, over the course of his first year in office, is leading to the building of a resilient and robust economy, which will take Ghana to a situation beyond aid.

According to President Akufo-Addo, he won the elections of 2016 because the Ghanaian people were dissatisfied with their living conditions and the direction in which Ghana’s economy, and, indeed, the country was headed. His government’s programme of economic transformation, therefore, is hinged on restructuring the institutions of governance, modernising the country’s agriculture to enhance its productivity, a clear industrial policy, and rationalising the financial sector so that it supports growth in agriculture, and growth in manufacturing and industry.

“To this end, and over the past 13 months, the period of stay of my government in office, we have begun to work on the fundamentals of the economy, because we believe that an improved macro-economy is a basic requirement for stimulating the investments we need for the rapid expansion and growth of the Ghanaian economy, and the generation of wealth and jobs,” he said.

This, he said, has led to the growing strength of the economy, from a growth rate of 3.6% in 2016 to 7.9% in 2017; the stabilisation of our currency, the cedi; reduction in inflation from 15.6% at the end of 2016 to its current level of 10.3%; a revival of Ghanaian industry, from a growth rate of -0.5% in 2016 to 17.7% in 2017; reduction in interest rates, and the fiscal deficit from 9.3% to 5.6% of GDP; and the abolition of nuisance taxes, with the aim of shifting the focus of the Ghanaian economy from an emphasis on taxation to an emphasis on production.

“We are also putting in place strong measures to increase revenue mobilisation, by plugging leaks and reforming the existing tax exemption regime,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo said this when he delivered the keynote address at the National Governors Association 2018 Winter Meeting, in Washington DC, United States of America on Sunday.

Addressing the gathering, he stated that the process of economic and industrial transformation in Ghana is going along with ensuring that the most basic elements of social justice are met.

“We have begun to make quality basic education, i.e. education from kindergarten through to secondary school, accessible to all of Ghana’s children. Through my government’s policy of free secondary education in our public schools launched in September 2017, at the beginning of this academic year, 90,000 more children gained access to senior high school in 2017, than they did the year before,” he said.

Equally, accessible healthcare to all of Ghana’s citizens, through an efficient and financially self-sustaining National Health Insurance Scheme, he stressed, is a crucial goal of my government.

“We do all this to promote a culture of incentives and opportunity, to unleash the considerable ingenuity, creativity and entrepreneurial talents of our people, especially of our youth,” he said. This, he was confident, was the surest path to national prosperity, bolstered by an enhancement of public accountability.

“Last Friday, before my departure for this visit, I appointed the first Special Prosecutor in our history, a known, respected anti-corruption crusader, whose task will be to deal, exclusively, with issues of corruption, and hold public officials, past and present, accountable for their stewardship of our nation’s public finances,” President Akufo-Addo added.

The President added that, “There is a lot of opportunity for American capital, technology and enterprise in Ghana, and, indeed, in Africa, and we welcome companies from all your states to participate in the exceptional opportunities that exist in our country and on the continent.”

He told the Governors that Ghana was embarking e embarking on an aggressive public-private-partnership programme to attract investment in the development of both road and railway infrastructure.

“We are hopeful that, with solid private sector participation, we can develop a modern railway network with strong production centre linkages, and with the potential to connect us to our neighbours to the north, i.e.

Burkina Faso, the west, i.e. Cote d’Ivoire, and to the east, Togo,” he said.

Apart from prosecuting the agenda of building, with the private sector, at least one factory in each district of Ghana, the President indicated that the time has come for Ghana to develop strategic industries out of its abundant natural resources of bauxite and iron ore.

To this end, “we shall, shortly, establish an Integrated Bauxite/Aluminium Development Authority to assemble the relevant financial resources for the systematic exploitation and development of our bauxite deposits.”

By the same token, President Akufo-Addo added that “we have decided to exploit our substantial iron ore and manganese deposits, situated in the Western and Northern regions of our country, to build an integrated steel industry to serve the needs of our country and region.”

Touching on the country’s oil and gas industry, the President noted that “we are making systematic efforts to develop our new oil and gas industry, into which ExxonMobil has just appeared, signing on 18th January, this year, a major offshore oil and gas exploration and production agreement with Ghana.

We are determined also to establish the relevant petrochemical industries to take advantage of the growth of our oil and gas industry.”