President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has rallied the private sector to lead the country’s economic recovery process.
At a breakfast meeting with industry captains and businessmen in Accra on Monday, the President said the private sector was the surest bet to reboot the economy, which is presently undergoing fiscal challenges.
The call comes in the wake of the government’s push to hold formal talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a support package to rescue the country’s economy which has been beaten by the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and a depreciating currency.
President Akufo-Addo at the meeting said it was imperative that the private sector played a focal role in the economic transformation of the country because other countries that are doing well got to their present state of development solely on the wings of the private sector.
“We cannot do anything serious if we are not guided by history and example,” he said, citing the development of the four ‘Asian Tigers’- South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan- where private capital pushed the rapid economic growth and development of those nations.
The government, he said, had and would continue to pursue and initiate policies, interventions and incentives, and engender conversations that would enable private sector players, particularly those in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, logistics, aviation and light manufacturing industries, to be more effective in the country’s economic transformation agenda.
Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, said government’s commitment to building a strong partnership with the private sector is unwavering.
He also said countries like China that have sustained its economic progress achieved its prosperity through private sector-led growth.
