The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah has assured the nation that the $2.7 billion investment inflows announced by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) for the year 2020 will properly be untilised for the benefit of all Ghanaians.
The Information minister, who was addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, said government would pursue valuable investments to help strengthen the Ghanaian economy towards recovery.
“The key thing that the GIPC is at this stage leading government to do is all of these investments in terms of their equity compositions and then their logistics compositions are on board fully, so that the jobs and opportunities associated with them can be fully realised by the Ghanaian people.
“So, for example, it is estimated that a total of 27,000 jobs expected to be generated from the 279 projects with operations at full capacity, about 22,000 of those jobs are expected to be for Ghanaians, while about 1,064 of those jobs just about 5% expected to be taken up by expatriate or non-Ghanaians,” the Minister said.
This comes at the back of an upsurge of up to 140 percent in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the year 2020, in spite of the ravaging effects of COVID-19.
From January to December 2020, Ghana recorded 279 projects with total estimated investment of US$2,796.49 million.
The FDI component and the local components amounted to US$2,650.97 million and US$145.52 million respectively for 2020.
This, the Minister assured that, government will through the new investment inflows registered embark on meaningful projects, and create more jobs for Ghanaians.
Speaking at the same news conference, Dr Kuma Aboagye, Director General of the Ghana Health Service said government was working assiduously to procure the next batch of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to vaccinate Ghanaians whose second jab is due.
He explained that the delay in the procurement of additional COVID-19 vaccines is occasioned by the global scramble for vaccines and the unavailability of same.
That notwithstanding, he said, government was working with its overseas partners to procure additional vaccines by May this year.
“As a service, we are more concerned about having more people with the first dose. There are also bilateral arrangements that will bring in other COVAX vaccines including Johnson and Johnson which we are expecting in the third quarter of the year.
“So, we are assuring people that the fact that you do not get it on the eighth week means there’s something wrong. We still have a four-week window period and beyond to have it,” he added.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye also announced a revision in the GHS’ initial vaccination policy for those who have taken the first dose from 8 weeks to 12 weeks period. This, he said, is as a result of the efficacy of the first dose, explaining that the first dose has about 76% protection for about 90 days which coincides with the revised 12 weeks.
Meanwhile, a total of 755,686 people have received their first jabs of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines with the Greater Accra Region having the highest number of persons.
The post Estimated 22,000 Jobs Up For Grabs appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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