Friday, May 4, 2012

‘Empower private sector’

Discussants at the maiden Ghana Economic Forum 2012 have proposed a policy initiative to empower the private sector to spearhead the development paradigm of the country’s economy.

 “Government must re-think policy strategies and programmes, and also identify innovative, pragmatic and effective ways that will spur sustainable economic growth and development as well as poverty reduction, especially job-creation to reduce the ever-growing unemployment among the youth,” said Nana Owusu Afari, President of the Association of Ghana Industries.

Discussants were Dr. Joe Abbey, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Analysis; Dr. John Kwakye, Economist at the Institute of Economic Affairs; Kweku Andoh Awotwi, Chief Executive of the Volta Riva Authority; and Foluso Phillips, Executive Chairman and Founder of Phillips Consulting Group as well as Abena Amoah an investment banker.

Delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony under the theme “Integrating People, Systems And Technologies For Sustainable Economic Development’, Hanna Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry observed: “The current global economic and financial crisis being experienced in most of the developed countries and its spill-over effects on developing/emerging economies places enormous responsibilities on all of us.”

She stressed that policymakers will have to identify ways to manage the present economic challenges while preparing their economies to perform credibly in an increasingly complex global economy.

 “For us in Ghana, the challenge is not different. The Ghanaian economy has witnessed some challenges that continue to inhibit its growth trajectory.”

She indicated that high unemployment among the youth, rising levels of public debt, high interest rates, volatile international commodity markets and its attendant effects on foreign exchange earnings, as well as high public sector wage bills and infrastructure deficits are issues of major concern that threaten the growth of the economy -- and these must be tackled head-on.

Tetteh expressed that there is a missing link in the development process that must be addressed as a matter of urgency if the pace of growth of the economy is to be maintained at higher levels and on consistent basis.

 Dr. Abbey said the culture of the country’s politicians high-jacking institutions must stop. “We need to get the political parties’ hands off State institutions and allow them to work.” Mr. Phillips said: “Ghana needs to start from the beginning in defining its value proposition.

This will help the country to align its priorities and the core competencies. “Ghana needs to develop strong competencies based on its natural resources, which will be used to develop its capabilities. There is a need for us to develop the capacities of the human capital.”

Dr. Kwakye also stated that the country also needs to develop its human capital, which is the most essential asset of every nation.

 “We need to develop and educate more of our youth to improve their capacity to be able to promote the development of our country. “We need to support the private sector to be able to support and absorb the youth,” he remarked.

No comments:

Post a Comment