Ghana urged to diversify economy

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank Group on Tuesday, urged Ghana to focus on diversifying her economy and use the expected revenue from oil and gas for socio-economic development.

She said transparency, accountability, human resource development and use of local content in the oil and gas industry should be key in managing the resources for development.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala was interacting with journalists in Accra, at the end of her two-day official visit to the country. She expressed confidence in the country’s economic potentials and stressed that Ghana could practice value-added agriculture to create more jobs especially for the youth.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala noted that Ghana was exporting a million dollars of horticultural products annually, adding that, recently the exports had tripled, which is a sign of major improvement in the sector. On the economic potential of the African continent, she said countries needed to focus on how to mobilise domestic resources to support private sector growth.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala said the socio-economic potential of the continent was under utilised, saying that, only 44 per cent of the land was used for agriculture with only 11 per cent of farmers using improved seeds. She however expressed optimism that the situation could be reversed and stressed the need to use improved agriculture as a means for development.

Source: GNA