Ghana, Germany vow to deepen economic cooperation

 The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has stressed the need for Ghana and Germany to deepen bilateral and economic cooperation for the mu­tual benefit of the two countries.

According to him, both coun­tries operated a similar economic structure with the Small and Me­dium-Scale Enterprises leading job and employment creation.

Mr Ofori-Atta stated this during the Ghana Mutual Prosperity Partnerships (GMMP) Round table with German Businesses in Ghana.

The GMMP is meant to build a closer collaboration with the private sector and particularly Ger­man Businesses in Ghana.

Mr Ofori-Atta in his remarks said the objective of the govern­ment was to use the private sector as catalyst for growth and econom­ic recovery and also to know the challenges facing the private sector particularly, German businesses in Ghana for redress.

In view of that, he said govern­ment wanted to know the challeng­es facing the private sector, hence the development of the GMMP.

Mr Ofori-Atta lauded Germany for its contribution to the develop­ment of Ghana and contributing 2.1 billion Euros under the G20 Compact with Africa and also commended the German com­panies which had decided to stay in Ghana, in spite of the difficult economic challenges facing the country.

He said Ghana had turned the corner and inflation had been more halved from 54.1 per cent in December last year to the 23.2 per cent currently, adding that the Cedi had been stabilised.

Mr Ofori-Atta pledged the gov­ernment would continue to create the necessary environment for the private sector to thrive in Ghana.

The Deputy German Ambassa­dor to Ghana, Mrs Sivine Jan­sen, said German and Ghanaian businesses shared a long-standing business relationship that spanned a wide variety of products and services across different sectors.

“Germany strongly values our close partnership with Ghana across the different areas of coop­eration and both countries contin­ue to enjoy fruitful engagements at the political level,” she stated.

The Deputy Ambassador said it was fundamental for Ghana to accelerate its investments in infra­structure to provide the needed conditions for people and business­es to prosper.

The Chief Executive Officer of Development Bank Ghana (DBG), Kwamina Duker, for his part said the GMMP aligned with the man­date of DBG.

He said SME held the key to jobs and employment creation and the GMMP which was to build a viable SME sector was a step in the right direction.

Mr Duker said DBG had so far disbursed about GH¢700 million to businesses in the country which 40 per cent were women owned businesses.

The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Mr Yofi Grant urged Ger­man investors to take advantage of the investment opportunities in Ghana to diversify their investment portfolios.

Ghana, he said was rich in natural resources which German businesses could explore, adding that the geographic location of Ghana (Centre of the world) made the country the best destination in the world.

Mr Grant said a survey conduct­ed last year, revealed that 98 per cent of the respondents said they still had strong faith in the Ghana­ian economy, despite the difficulty macroeconomic challenges.

 BY KINGSLEY ASARE

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