Trade Ministry set to continue private sector strategy
The Ministry of Trade and Industry is to assume leadership role over the implementation of the second Private Sector Development Strategy (PSDSII), which has been on the shelves because of confusion over which minister has oversight responsibility.
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The Trade Ministry developed the Trade Sector Support Strategy out of which it carved the PSDS One and Two. Although the first strategy was implemented in part, the second did not see the light of day, especially since the appointment of a Minister of State to be in charge of private sector development.
But the Minister of Trade, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, said implementation was set to continue in earnest this year because development partners had agreed to support the strategy with leadership now certain.
“The development partners which were supporting the project decided not to disburse their funds until the issues have been resolved. Since I assumed office, I have written to the respective donor agencies informing them the ministry will take responsibility. They have accepted it and the Presidency has also given us the green light,” Dr Spio-Garbrah said in Accra on February 4 when he interacted with the Ghanaian-German Economic Association (GGEA) and members of a trade mission from Germany.
The trade minister said the PSDS Council would be called to action soon to put in place the necessary roadmap towards implementation, since development partners had now renewed their pledge to the strategy.
The second PSDS spans 2010-2015. It is to serve as a policy framework for the transformation of the private sector in the country and facilitate its contributions to economic development. The policy is intended to be fully implemented by the end of 2015.
Its main thematic thrust include making Ghana an attractive destination for local and international entrepreneurs to start up and expand businesses; encourage investors to put money in areas of the economy other than mining, oil, telecommunications and finance, and offer incentives to businesses to create more secure, well-paying jobs. Each of these areas have detailed action plans.
Besides the strategy, he said, the ministry had other private sector-oriented programmes that stretched to the districts and villages to boost the capacity of the sector.
The President of the GGEA, Mr Stephen Antwi, explained that being their first event for the year, it was to enable the members and other entrepreneurs to network and explore business linkages.
He said having gone through a challenging 2014, businesses were expecting the economy to bounce back, especially when the energy crisis, which he said was affecting members negatively, was resolved. GB
