President Akufo-Addo, President Alassane Ouattara and President Emerson Mnangagwa arriving at the venue
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured potential private sector investors of the security of their investments should they do business in Ghana.
Speaking at the 6th Africa CEO Forum yesterday in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, President Akufo-Addo stressed that “Ghana is endowed with great potential, where security and the rule of law are upheld, where investments are secure.”
He said over the last 14 months, his administration had focused its energies on trying to build a resilient economy and had put in measures to help move Ghana to a situation beyond aid.
With some degree of success, President Akufo-Addo told the forum: “we have put in place, in Ghana, since I took office, a monetary policy that has stabilised our currency, and has reduced significantly inflation and the cost of borrowing.”
He added that “we have implemented a raft of tax cuts which has brought relief to businesses, and at the same time reduced substantially our fiscal deficit. These interventions are lowering the cost of doing business, and are shifting the focus of our economy from an emphasis on taxation to an expansion of production.”
President Akufo-Addo stated that the Ghanaian economy, whose growth rate stood at 3.6%, in 2016, the lowest in two decades, grew by 7.9% in 2017, and is expected to grow in 2018 by 8.3%, which according to the IMF, would make it the fastest growing economy in the world this year.
“We want to mobilize our own material and human resources to develop a strong economy, capable of generating prosperity for the mass of our people and construct a Ghana no longer dependent on handouts and charity,” President Akufo-Addo stated.
The President stressed that the rapid growth of the private sector is an essential ingredient in realizing his administration’s ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ vision.
“There are many projects in roads, railways, water transport, industry, manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum and gas, renewable energy, the exploitation of our mineral wealth of bauxite, iron ore and gold, and ICT, amongst others, which, if properly structured, can attract private sector financing,” he said.
The President continued: “Key to attracting private sector investment is not only creating a conducive, business friendly and peaceful environment, but also fashioning a state machinery fit to provide strong, regulatory support for private enterprise to thrive. That, for us, is the heart of the private-public-partnership that can fast-track our development.”
He further indicated that the aim of his administration is to create a state machinery to ensure that all private sector operators discharge their full tax obligations to enhance domestic resource mobilization which can promote the rule of law.