Ken Ofori-Atta
FINANCE MINISTER, Ken Ofori-Atta, has encouraged individuals particularly, the youth, to break away from seeking already-made jobs and focus on creating jobs not only for themselves but also for others.
“Seeking already-made jobs is not the way of the future,” he said.
Mr. Ofori-Atta, who spoke at the Springboard-Ghana CARES Youth Dialogue in Accra, said it was by shifting from a socialist state to a more entrepreneurial state that the country could improve the unemployment situation.
He said as part of government’s aim to improve the unemployment situation, the government would soon launch YouBanC to help create more jobs in the private sector.
YouBanC is a government initiative aimed at helping individuals create and sustain their own businesses by assisting them financially through loans.
The programme, scheduled to launch after the 2022 budget reading, will be funded by members of the private and public sector including the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (AGIPC) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. John Ampontuah Kumah, stated that YouBanC would ensure that young people were given the requisite support from the early stage to develop their businesses.
Keen on helping create more youth employment, YouBanC will be made available in the universities to make it easier for students to access the programme. The YouBanC product will also be open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 35.
Ghana-CARES ‘Obaatan Pa’ programme, created to serve as the blueprint for Ghana’s economic recovery post COVID-19, is set to invest GH¢100 billion into the economy’s revitalisation. As part of its revitalisation goal, the programme will pump funds into the private and public sector of the economy.
The programme will be funded with a GH¢300 billion contribution from the public sector and GH¢70 billion from the private sector.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri & Abigail Adeyemi