THE ALLIANCE for Development and Industrialisation, (ADI) is calling on the two Bretton Woods institutions- the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) to channel any financial assistance they have for Ghana into industrialisation.
A statement issued in Accra and signed by Richard Danso, president of the think-tank, said the current GDP growth depicts that the fundamentals are there for Ghana to structure and build the economy.
The recent figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), depict that the economy expanded by 4.8 percent of GDP.
However, the manufacturing sector recorded a GDP growth of 8.8 percent by the end of the second quarter of this year.
According to ADI, over the years, most of the World Bank project support has not helped enough to catapult the needed impact expected by the International Development Agencies, with the challenge being that private participation has been lacking, and has not helped the country to record the needed growth.
The statement said the impact of the country’s industrialisation on the economy could be achieved if all donor support is focused on industrialisation and privatisation which would lead to a sustainable social development.
“We believe that Ghana’s dependant on cocoa should be diverted for a multi sectorial focus, for example mango, avocado, coconut among others. Our natural resources should be processed at an affordable price to take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement,” it said.
It said “the cedi depreciation gives Ghana the opportunity to trigger Africa’s industrialisation and export drive among member countries which would give the country the needed forex, improve our balance of payment, shore up our reserves as well as stabilize the cedi.”