Cost of Doing Business Lowering - Akufo-Addo

By Ernest KISSIEDU

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that the cost of doing business in the country is being lowered especially with a shift in the focus of the economy from taxation to production.

This is as a result of the various policy measures introduced by his government over the last five months.

"These interventions are already lowering the cost of doing business, and shifting the focus of our economy from taxation to production. They have begun yielding the desired effects on the growth of the Ghanaian economy," he said.

President Akufo-Addo made the revelation at a lunch organized for the Executive Meeting and Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Meeting of the International Democratic Union (IDU) in Accra.

This is the first time such a meeting is being held in the country of a member party in sub-Saharan Africa.

Upon assuming office on 7th January, 2017, President Akufo-Addo put before the Ghanaian people the ambitious programme of social and economic transformation of any government in the history of Ghana's 4th Republic, aimed at putting the country on the path of progress and prosperity.

This programme, the President said, is hinged on restructuring the institutions of our governance, modernising our agriculture to enhance its productivity, a clear industrial policy, and rationalising the financial sector so that it supports growth in agriculture, and growth in manufacturing and industry.

The policy initiatives put in place to bring relief to and encourage businesses, he said, include measures to stimulate the private sector, a monetary policy that will stabilise the currency and reduce significantly the cost of borrowing, in addition to a raft of tax cuts.

The President continued, "We aim also to enhance further the business atmosphere and make Ghana an easier place to conduct business through paperless transactions at our ports, and the removal of all internal customs barriers by the beginning of September."

In addition to these, President Akufo-Addo noted that his government's flagship programmes, "One District, One Factory", and "Planting for Food and Jobs", have been launched, with the aim of making Ghana's economy the most business friendly on the continent of Africa, and in the world.

President Akufo-Addo added that this process of economic and industrial transformation is going along with ensuring that the most basic elements of social justice are met - making quality basic education and healthcare accessible to all - to promote a culture of incentives and opportunities.

"We are determined to build a new Ghanaian civilisation, a Ghana beyond Aid. It is a Ghana where we aim to be masters of our own destiny, where we marshal our own resources for the future, breaking the shackles of the 'Guggisberg' colonial economy of a producer of raw materials, and a mind-set of dependency, bailouts and extraction."

"It is an economy where we look past commodities to position ourselves in the global marketplace at the high end of the value chain. It is a country where we focus on trade, not aid, a hand-up, not a hand-out. It is a country with a strong private sector. It is a country that recognises the connectedness of its people and economy to those of its neighbours. It is a country that is governed according to the rule of law, respect for individual liberties and human rights, and the principles of democratic accountability," President Akufo-Addo opined.

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