President Akufo-Addo
PRESIDENT AKUFO-Addo has touted the Coronavirus Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprise Support (CARES) programme as a critical component of the country’s economic recovery process.
He believes the GH¢100 billion programme, christened Obaatan Pa, will open the country up to investors.
“The world is going through very difficult times and Ghana is no exception. There is no country in the world that is escaping the ravages of both the Covid-19 and the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
“What you need to look at are the elements that are being put on the ground that look beyond the Covid-19 and Ukraine-Russia war. In Ghana, the CARES Programme is considered very credible and it is what is going to give us the opportunity to come out of this period [as] a stronger economy,” he said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
When government launched the GH¢100 billion Obaatan pa Programme in November 2020, it envisioned that the ambitious initiative would stabilise and revitalise the economy to create jobs over a three-year period.
The programme is sequenced in two phases – the stabilisation phase and the medium-term revitalisation phase.
Government, during its launch, noted that the investment was aimed at expanding commercial agriculture and attracting educated youth into agriculture; building Ghana’s light manufacturing industry targeting agro-processing, food import substitution, textile and pharmaceuticals, developing engineering, machine tools and ICT digital economy industries.
It is also aimed at fast-tracking digitisation by expediting government digital initiatives; developing Ghana’s housing and construction industry; and establishing Ghana as a regional hub, leveraging its position within ECOWAS.
As the host of the Secretariat of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), it is positioned to focus on manufacturing, finance, mining, healthcare, aviation and logistics, digital services, petroleum, automobile, tourism, hospitality and creative arts.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri