Government making local industries globally competitive – President
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Tuesday said government’s stimulus package for local industries was making them globally competitive.
He said his government had so far facilitated access to GH¢237 million medium term credit to 16 firms, in the oil palm, pharmaceutical, agro processing, beverages, cosmetics, textiles and poultry industries, which has led to increased productivity and creation of jobs for the teeming youth of Ghana.
The President made this known on the first day of his three-day tour of the Greater Accra Region, when he inspected work at the Healthy Life Beverages Limited, a local fruit juice concentrate and milk solids manufacturing company on the Spintex Road, Nungua near Accra.
He was optimistic that his administration’s programmes and initiatives aimed at driving the industrial revolution agenda and setting the country on the path of prosperity was yielding positive results.
President Akufo-Addo, impressed at the progress of work at the Healthy Life Limited, said the company was an exemplary Ghanaian owned industrial enterprise, which has been supported to utilize its full capacity to compete on the global market.
He indicated that the support to the company had seen the doubling of the company’s working capital, particularly a $3.3 million for its raw materials requirements.
The company has also benefited from $1.6 million support for additional machinery, which has led to an increased plant capacity utilization from 40 per cent to 80 per cent.
The President upon assumption of office in 2017, set up a stimulus package to support existing Ghanaian industries, improve their competitiveness, and also for the revival of distressed companies.
President Akufo-Addo was happy that as a result of the support, the company had been able to increase its technical and administration work force to over 300.
“This company is one of the leading companies that is supporting our whole programme of economic transformation, that is going to make Ghanaian enterprises globally competitive,” he said.
The President was emphatic that across the country, there were visible projects to speak to his government’s commitment to transforming the economic fortunes of the country, adding that, a lot of positives was happening in the country contrary to what his political detractors were stating.
The Managing Director of Healthy life Beverages Company Ltd, Mr Nuamah Fameye, expressed gratitude to the President for the support given to the company, which has saved it off from collapse.
The stimulus package, the Healthy Life MD explained, “Seeks to reduce the burden of high interest commercial loans for indigenous businesses. We are very grateful for your approval and wish to thank you for letting us join this eminent group and to let our business prosper.”
“As you can see, your laudable initiatives especially the 1-District-1-Factory (1D1F) and Planting for Food and Jobs are a perfect fit for our ongoing projects. We are already off-takers for locally produced oranges, pineapple and mango, and we are going to add coconut water and water melon.
“We believe a sure way to making 1D1F a sustainable reality across the country is to partner local businesses like us,” he told the President.
Source: GNA