President Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the 2018 budget statement and economic policy of the government will bring “good news” to power consumers in the country.
He said the government had set in motion, the process of reviewing electricity tariffs and indicated that the budget would bring relief to household and business power consumers.
At the Association of Ghanaian Industries (AGI) Awards on Saturday, President Akufo-Addo said plans to review electricity tariffs formed part of the efforts to reduce the cost of doing business in the country.
He commended his Minister for Energy, Boakye Agyarko, for his sterling work to stabilise the power situation in the country and efforts to help reduce the tariffs.
President Akufo-Addo indicated that the dark days of power crises, popularly known as ‘dumsor’, was completely over and would not reoccur under his administration.
Under his government, the President said there would be power for both households and businesses and expressed the commitment to create the right environment for businesses to grow.
“Industry is going to be given all the assistance we can muster. Our nation stands in the thresholds of a momentous transformation, the like of which, her history has ever known. It is an exciting time to be a Ghanaian.”
“Government’s objective is clear. The world has seen their Asian Tigers. It is time it saw their African Lions. Ghana must definitely be among the very first because we can,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo commended the leadership of AGI, both past and present, for helping to promote the industrialisation of the country.
He said over the last two decades, he had, in the capacity of a government minister and presidential candidate, interacted with the association on many issues affecting businesses in the country.
He thanked the association for their support and commended the award winners who played significant roles towards the growth and development of the country.
The President urged Ghanaian entrepreneurs to be at the forefront of the critical national assignment of undertaking the structural transformation of the country.
He said the “Guggisberg Economy” which relied solely on the production and export of raw materials had run its course and stressed the need to move away from that type of economy to survive.
“There can be no future prosperity for our people if we continue the production and export of raw materials. We must add value. We must industrialise,” the President said.
Industrialisation, he said, was the overarching and strategic objective of economic policy of his administration.
President Akufo-Addo took a swipe at his predecessor government for collapsing industry, after inheriting an economy which had industry growing steadily.
He said in the last days of former President Kufuor, industry was growing at a rate of 15.1 per cent and noted in the last days of former President Mahama, industry was in recession at -1.4 per cent.
As a result of the relative normalisation of power and implementation of business-friendly policies, industry, in the first quarter of this year, grew at a rate of 11.5 per cent, he said.
The President said his administration had rolled out a number of policy initiatives to help reduce the cost of doing business and increase business growth.
He said the government was committed to the agenda of developing and implementing a comprehensive export diversification action plan and indicated that the government would build an export-driven economy.
By Yaw Kyei
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