Ghana's economic growth depends on adding value to raw materials

Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry

Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, says Ghana's economic growth depends largely on the ability of industrialists to add value to raw and unprocessed materials for export.

"Subsequently, the government has initiated two parallel strategies - an export-led industrialisation and domestic market-oriented industrialisation based on import competition to ensure that in spite of Ghana's relatively small market we benefit from global trading systems," she said.

The minister said this at a national conference of the Project Trade Policy and Pro-Poor Growth, organised by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, in Accra.

Ms Tetteh said the success of the export-led industrialisation strategy largely depends on open markets for both goods and services.

She taunted the improvement in global trading system, which had led to unprecedented creation of jobs, wealth and fostered stability.

Ms Tetteh said, "Unfortunately, the benefits have not spread evenly and a large number of developing countries, including Ghana have been, marginalised in the global trading system with the result that trade is not contributing its share to the development of the peoples of these countries to enable the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"We need to identify the factors constraining our integration into the global trading system and devise the requisite policy shifts both at the national and international levels to address the problems so that trade can play its role in both economic and human development".

Issues the forum discussed included overview of trade policy reforms and developments in Ghana, employment and wage effects of trade liberalisation; the case of Ghanaian manufacturing.

Global integration, food price transmission and household welfare impacts in Ghana. Others were on gender issues in Africa agriculture: evidence from Ghana's cocoa industry.