SONA 2023: We Need To Do Something About Our Huge Import Bill- Prez
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that Ghana needs to do something about her huge import bill as a country.
Speaking on the State of the Nation March 8 in Parliament, the President said, it is against this background that he set up a five-member ad hoc Cabinet committee to work on a policy to enhance domestic production and export development with a four-fold strategy to reduce the country’s import bill in the short-, medium- and long-term; enhance domestic productive capacity in selected products; generate widespread employment opportunities; and diversify and expand the country’s export capacity to Africa and beyond, especially through the vehicle of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
President Akufo-Addo added that “in 2021, Ghana’s total import bill was put at US$13.7 billion, according to GRA/ICUMS. On the evidence of existing local productive capacity, we have identified a list of twenty (20) priority products in the categories of primary agricultural products, processed foods, and manufactured goods, where we can confidently enhance domestic production. Amongst these are rice, fish, poultry, fruit juice, sugar, tomatoes, vegetable oils, oil palm, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, soaps and detergents, insulated wire, ceramic products, corrugated paper and paper board, cement/clinker, and motor vehicles”.
“The report on the implementation modalities to enhance domestic productive capacity in these products has been prepared and, once confirmed, the new Minister for Trade & Industry will roll-out urgently a series of initiatives to implement the policy”.
Source: opemsuo.com/Effmen William
