Stop this 'beggar' economics now -- Kofi Amoah

Prominent economist Dr. Kofi Amoah has challenged government to diversify the economy instead of relying heavily on aid, grants and loans from foreign donors and governments.

Ghana’s domestic budget has for decades been supported by donors which include the World Bank, African Development Bank, the European Union and other foreign governments whose agencies fund a wide range of initiatives -- including infrastructure projects, technical assistance to public sector departments, and programmes to tackle poverty and diseases.

Speaking as a panellist at the just-ended Ghana Economic Forum organised by the Business and Financial Times (B&FT) in Accra, Dr. Amoah warned against maintaining this cycle of dependence, which has serious repercussions for the country’s future.

“No nation has developed by begging other nations,” he said, adding: “We need to diversify into other areas instead of jumping from one nation to the other for help.”

He said the country has no shared vision and is in serious need of a long-term development agenda led by agriculture and manufacturing as well as finance.

“We don’t have a development strategy as a nation; all that we have are short-term interventions, and these interventions cannot develop a nation. A development strategy is something that everyone knows about. It is something we have to look at going forward.”

The astute businessman added that Ghana needs to get to a point where its citizens’ psyche is changed to focus on a common national goal.

For the third year running, the Ghana Economic Forum sent a clear, unequivocal message to the country’s leaders -- with speakers urging government to craft a national vision and inclusive economic development strategy that has clear goals and gives a picture of where Ghana wants to be in the next decade and beyond.

Dr. Abu Sakara, a politician and agronomist, urged government to use a substantial share of oil revenues for strategic investment in agriculture; stressing that agriculture must not only be seen as a source for food security but also a means to create wealth.

“We must give agriculture the priority it deserves. Over 30 percent of produce is left on farms to rot. Therefore, we need intervention through strategic investment in storage. There’s opportunity for US$600million worth of rice and US$500million of sugar to be grown here to save foreign exchange used for imports.”

President John Dramani Mahama, who gave a glowing endorsement to the forum, said his government sees it as the main forum for the exchange of ideas between private and public sector leaders.

“It is the greatest wish and desire of the President that the Ghana Economic Forum should become a permanent dialogue session of the private sector. The President is asking for a partnership between the private sector and government, whereby the government’s role is to provide the enabling environment for the private sector,” said Haruna Iddrisu, Trade and Industry Minister, in a statement on the President’s behalf.

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey | B&FT Online | Ghana