Govt focus on economic growth — Bawumia
The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, says the government is re-focusing on economic growth to navigate the country’s way out of the current economic challenges.
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To this end, he said the government was leaving no stone unturned as it worked hard to regain the economic trajectory Ghana was on before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at the the third Ghana Investments and Opportunities Summit in London on Tuesday, he said "we are living in extraordinary times over the past two years, inflation has surged and its rise has been large, sudden and global.”
Investment summit
The investment summit sought to entice foreign investors to take advantage of opportunities created in the various sectors of the Ghanaian economy as government worked assiduously to attain economic recovery.
He said in many parts of the world it was now at levels unseen for generations.
“Meanwhile, financial systems have come under strain.
For the first time in recent decades, we have seen high inflation and financial stress emerging in tandem.
“The world as we are all aware continues to face difficult moments caused by several factors, including climate change, disruptions in the supply chain of manufacturing goods as a result of the pandemic,” he added.
Dr Bawumia said "these issues as projected by the World Bank are sinking some developed and developing countries into recession and that just when the world was recovering from the ravages of COVID-19 pandemic, war also broke out between Russia and Ukraine.
He said the consequence of the war had not only affected the two countries but also extended to other parts of the world, including Ghana.
“We have been hit by mainly three major external forces.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit our capacity to access fundamental goods and the response put a burden on public finances.
“The war between Russia and Ukraine, among other factors, hit fertilizer and grain prices and increased the prices of commodities back home as well as the United States Federal Reserve’s move to also hike interest rate severely hit our capacity to borrow and repay debt on the international market," he said.
Dr Bawumia said the government was balancing sound fiscal management with strategic public investments that unlocked growth, and cited the Brownfield, Greenfield and Public Private Partnerships as tangible and bankable projects championed by the private sector in Ghana and abroad.
Private sector
Describing the private sector as the engine of growth, he said, “we are only here to support you, our government is acting as your facilitator.”
He, therefore, gave the assurance that “We will unlock bottlenecks and prioritise limited resources to strategic sectors and projects, adding that “We think this is an exciting time to be part of Ghana’s economic growth.”
Dr Bawumia said the investment and opportunities summit was being organised in that context and that “first, we want to show that Ghana is back on track and that strong opportunities exist for profitable private investments in key sectors.”