Government's National Industrial Revitalisation Programme for local industries is making them globally competitive, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.
Under the stimulus package, government has facilitated access to GH?237 million medium term credit to 16 local firms, in the oil palm, pharmaceutical, agro processing, beverages, cosmetics, textiles and poultry industries.
President Akufo-Addo, who said this when he visited Healthilife Company Limited in the Spintex Industrial enclave on Tuesday, as part of a three-day tour of the Greater Accra Region, explained that the stimulus package was to augment the expansion of businesses, enable them create jobs and compete globally.
He was optimistic that his administration's programmes and initiatives aimed at driving the industrial revolution agenda and setting the country on the path of prosperity was yielding positive results.
President Akufo-Addo, impressed at the progress of work at the Healthilife Limited, said the company was an exemplary Ghanaian owned industrial enterprise, which has been supported to utilize its full capacity to compete on the global market.
President Akufo-Addo reiterated government's commitment to creating in Ghana, the most business-friendly environment, where businesses would flourish and create jobs.
He noted that, real growth in the industrial and manufacturing sector, in particular, had declined significantly in 2016, contributing to high levels of unemployment.
"A variety of factors including high cost of capital, limited access to medium and long-term financing, high cost of electricity and unreliable power supply, limited access to land for industrial activity; and weak logistics and infrastructure support for industrial development, contributed to this situation."
This, among other factors, necessitated the establishment of the National Industrial Revitalization Programme with a Stimulus Package for industries.
He said government, in the last 22 months, had laid good economic fundamentals intended to reduce the cost of doing business and improve the business environment.
All these measures, the President noted, were been undertaken to stimulate enterprise activity and growth in the country, he said.
"Our actions have resulted in the growing stability of the macro-economy, reduction in inflation, reduction in utility tariffs, and abolition nuisance taxes to shift the focus of the economy from taxation to production," the President added.
President Akufo-Addo expressed hope in Ghana's manifest destiny and in the capacity of the Ghanaian to construct a new, prosperous Ghanaian civilization that would reflect the progressive values and culture, which had defined Ghanaians through the ages.
On his part, the Managing Director of Healthilife Beverages Company Ltd, Mr Nuamah Fameye, expressed his appreciation to the Ministry of Trade and Industry "for selecting our company to be part of the President's vision to support indigenous Ghanaian businesses."
The stimulus package, the Healthilife MD explained, "Seeks to reduce the burden of high interest commercial loans for indigenous businesses. We are very grateful for your approval and wish to thank you for letting us join this eminent group and to let our business prosper."
It will be recalled that upon assumption of office in 2017, President Akufo-Addo set up a stimulus package to support existing Ghanaian industries, improve their competitiveness and also for the revival of distressed companies.
Mr Fameye said, as a beneficiary company of the Package, the company employs some 300 people and has plans to increase its capacity to employ more.
The establishment of another manufacturing line, he said, would employ additional 1,000 young Ghanaians and engage some 5000 peasant farmers across the country in retail trading and distribution.
"As you can see, your laudable initiatives especially 1 District, 1 Factory (1D1F) and Planting for Food and Jobs are a perfect fit for our ongoing projects. We are already off-takers for locally produced oranges, pineapple and mango, and we are going to add coconut water and water melon. We believe a sure way to making 1D1F a sustainable reality across the country is to partner local businesses like us," he said.
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