Yaw Osafo-Marfo
Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Marfo, has made a passionate appeal to the Government of Germany for assistance to develop the country’s private sector.
Mr. Osafo-Marfo made the call when the German Ambassador to Ghana, Christoph Retzlaff, paid a courtesy call on him recently in Accra.
He recalled the special support that Germany in 2001 under President Schutt gave to Ghana to explore the HIPC initiative to provide some leverage for the then new government when he was the Finance Minister, which made it easier for the Paris Club to quickly support Ghana’s cause.
“The time has come again for your country to come to our assistance this time round towards developing our private sector for it to be resilient, specific and more focused on the issues that will make Ghana tackle the issues of unemployment in the country,” Mr. Osafo-Marfo said.
Mr. Osafo-Marfo, during the meeting, touched on key issues affecting the Ghanaian economy and the ways in which the German government can be of assistance in addressing such challenges.
Looking at the challenges confronting the nation, the best alternative is to mobilize resources to increase the capacity of the private sector to assume the business leadership role in governance.
The Senior Minister told the Ambassador that unemployment at all levels is a major challenge, which calls for hard work and commitment from all to address.
He noted that another basic economic challenge facing the country is the huge public debt which is in the range of 9% of GDP by cash and 10.2% by commitments.
According to him, the huge public debt poses a lot of challenges to the government, as there is virtually no fiscal space to pursue the economic policies outlined.
“We cannot talk about private sector leadership without tapping into the experience and knowledge of Germany. For us to succeed in this private sector leadership approach to creating jobs and wealth, Germany will be critical in the decisions that we will take,” he explained.
He bemoaned the unfortunate circumvention of the procurement processes by the previous government, which made procurement through single window sourcing (sole sourcing) its primary contract engagement.
The Senior Minister called for more German support in the areas of budget and credit lines assistance to support Ghana in its economic recovery process.
On his part, the German Ambassador praised the Senior Minister for hosting him.
The envoy expressed happiness with the kind words that he said about Germany and the numerous support that his country continue to offer Ghana.
He stressed that working in Ghana would be one of the highest points in his diplomatic career.
The envoy assured the Senior Minister that Germany remains highly committed to sustaining the good relationship between the two countries, stressing that Germany is ever ready to help Ghana to be on top of its economic policies.
He informed Osafo-Maafo that German Chancellor, Angela Merkel would invite President Akufo-Addo to this year’s G20 meeting in Berlin.
He said the German government would use the occasion to organize investor roundtable forum of prominent German companies where President Akufo-Addo would be given the unique opportunity to showcase the investment opportunities in Ghana.
By Melvin Tarlue