Economist calls on government to check its revenue and expenditure
Ghana needs to position itself properly to benefit from AFCFTA-Economist
Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana, Dr Priscilla Twumasi Baffour, has said that Ghana’s manufacturing industry will do much better when a stable macroeconomic environment is created.
This she said will attract foreign investors to the country.
The Economist said, “with a stable macroeconomic environment, we are talking about the interest rate which is the cost of capital … a stable currency is a requirement in our industrialization drive, and we also need to keep inflation under control”.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Dr Twumasi Baffour bemoaned the unattractiveness of Ghana’s manufacturing industry saying this is causing Ghanaians to rather produce outside the country and bring it back to the Ghanaian market as foreign goods.
Dr. Twumasi Baffour, therefore, said this also is a major problem that is causing unemployment in the country.
“Indeed, manufacturing is not attractive and when you come to speak to our business people. It is more attractive to buy and sell in Ghana than to manufacturing. Most of the challenges in the sector are quite daunting. Talk about infrastructure, access to credit, cost of energy, the whole business environment with regulation is not friendly for manufacturing activity that is why most people would rather go outside produce goods with local names and bring them onto the market to sell,” she said.
With the advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the economist wants Ghana to properly position itself to fully read the benefits it brings.
She added that “the country stands to lose when we do not position our manufacturing firms to take advantage of opportunities that come with the Free trade area.”
On borrowing, Dr. Twumasi Baffour said Ghana needs “to put our borrowing in check so that government is not forced to go and borrow in the private sector.”
Also calls on government to keep its budget in check in terms of revenue and expenditure.
She however decries Ghana’s current unemployment situation emphasising the need, as a country, to take a critical look at the structure of the economy and the sources.
"Why does the economy perform well on average in terms of growth but struggles to generate jobs? Perhaps it is time for us to pause and assess our industrialization strategy over time,” she added. Read Full Story
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