President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given a firm assurance that the government will work to restore the cedi to stability.
“I am aware of the anxiety there is, in business circles and through the population about the recent depreciation of the cedi. I am extremely upset and anxious about it too.
“I want to assure you that efforts are being made to arrest the decline and restore the cedi to stability in order to improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian businessess.
“And I think that very soon we will be seeing the results of our policy,” President Akufo-Addo said when he inaugurated a ceramic tile factory in Tema yesterday.
The Fijian Sentuo Ceramic Tile Company Limited is a Ghanaian business owned by a Chinese investor that manufactures wall and vitrified tiles.
The President said his administration was implementing policies to address the structural problems confronting the industrial development of the country with modest success.
For instance, he said the country, under his administration, had improved its standing in terms of ease of doing business in the country.
“We have witnessed significant reduction in the monetary policy rate of the Bank of Ghana which has translated into an increasingly declining rate in lending rate.”
“Inflation has also come down significantly since we came to power. All of these are efforts that we are making to improve the business environment and make it possible for our enterprises in Ghana to be competitive,” he said.
He commended the Chinese businessman for choosing to invest in the Ghanaian economy and indicated that the investment was a sign of the excellent relations between Ghana and China.
The President said the company already had 1,300 direct employees from Ghana and elsewhere, adding, “My understanding is that 90 per cent of the raw material needs of the facility are being sourced locally from both the Central and Western regions.”
He said if the Ghanaian economy would be modernised, it should be able to attract such investments to the industrial and manufacturing sector.
According to President Akufo-Addo, Fejian Sentuo Limited had taken advantage of the policies that his administration had laid on the ground under the one district one factory to make the investments.
“We want to achieve a significant level of industrial development. We commenced immediately after my assumption of office to put in place a programme of industrial transformation agenda which seeks to address some of the structural challenges confronting the private sector and its ability to spearhead the industrial development of our country,” he said.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, in an address read on his behalf, commended the company and expressed the ministry’s commitment to facilitate government’s plans of assisting the growth of the manufacturing and industrial sectors.
BY YAW KYEI
