Ghana told to design economic development agenda

Professor Kofi Nti, a Fellow at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Science, has urged Government to design its economic development agenda to capitalise on the energies and potentials of the private sector.

“We can achieve our economic vision when public policies move in the same direction as the private sector and when the public resources are applied to remove constraints facing the private sector,” he noted.

Prof Nti made the call at the opening of three-day public lectures on the topic: “Government and the Private Sector: Partners in Economic Development in Accra on Monday.”

He said the private sector was preponderant in the country which accounted for about 93 per cent of employment and contributed to between 70 t0 85 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

He said the top five challenges faced by the private sector included lack of access to financing, high tax rate, corruption, poor work ethics of the labour force and inadequate supply of infrastructure.

“Ghana’s ranking in the bottom quarter of the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index underscores the weakness in the private sector,” he added.

Prof Nti explained that the country’s businesses focused on domestic market, while the exports involved mostly unprocessed agricultural and resource based extractives.

He said for Ghana to achieve high levels of economic growth, the country should move into manufacturing and high value services.

Prof Nti called on the private sector to establish more subsidies as their counterparts in Nigeria and South Africa were doing to invest in the sub-region and beyond.

Source: GNA