Deputy Trade Minister, Herbert Krapa, cutting the tape to Commission Guinness Ghana Brewhouse at Achimota
Ghana will continue to be a safe place to do business in Africa because all sectors continue to experience global standard reforms, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry (MITI) Herbert Krapa has assured.
He further guaranteed that despite the fallouts from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ghanaian government has successfully restored macroeconomic stability as it finalized reforms in the financial sector.
The country’s agenda to digitize the economy is ongoing without any hindrance; the same as reforms at the ports. Regulatory reforms intended to remove bureaucracies and ease the cost of doing business have progressed well.
Mr Krapa gave the assurance at the commissioning of the Guinness Ghana Limited’s new Brewhouse at Achimota, Accra. This is to complement the Brewhouse in Kumasi.
Guinness Ghana Breweries was founded in 1960. From modest beginnings, the company is currently sourcing 61 per cent of all raw materials locally. The newly commissioned Ghc145 million Brewhouse is expected to increase local sourcing of materials to 70 per cent by 2024 with about a 150 per cent increase in production capacity.
This will mean more revenue generation, more jobs for people along the value chain, especially farmers and good dividends for shareholders on the stock market.
According to the Deputy Trade Minister, “the Guinness story is ample evidence that investments are safe and will continue to be safe in Ghana.” No wonder the World Bank considers Ghana the best place to do business in West Africa, he noted.
He added that with the coming into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), an unparalleled market access opportunity for companies such as Guinness has been provided.
Touted as the single largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), provides an expanded duty-free, quota-free market for Africa’s 1.2 billion people; with a combined Gross Domestic Product of 3.4 trillion United States Dollars among 54 countries.
Lawyer Herbert Krapa further assured that Government will continue to provide the needed incentives to help build a stronger manufacturing sector, improve value chain systems (especially the supply end) and protect investments for benefit of both Ghanaians and investors.
Helene Weesie, Managing Director of Guinness Ghana said the success of the company for the past 61 years in Ghana is a result of the unflinching support of the government and the people. She said the new Brewhouse presents the company the opportunity to double the amount of sorghum uptake from 20,000 tonnes to 45,000 tonnes used to produce their beer products.
To this end, the company is providing financial assistance and building the technical capacity of over 30,000 local farmers in 11 regions with over 210,000 people across the country also benefiting. This is to support the increasing demand for raw material to feed the new brewhouse.
Other dignitaries at the event included the United Kingdom’s Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, GRA Commissioner General, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, MD of Guinness Ghana, Helene Weesie, MD of Diageo Africa Emerging Markets, Andrew Cowan, Chiefs and major distributors of Guinness products from selected regions of the country.
From Fred Duodu (k.duodu@yahoo.com