Akufo-Addo Ask Ghanaians To Prepare For AfCFTA

President Akufo-Addo has advised Ghanaian companies to position themselves to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) policy.

The AfCFTA, with its headquarters coming to Ghana, is set to cover a market of 1.2 billion people at an estimated GDP of $3 billion across the 54-member states of the African Union.

It would also serve as the vehicle for Ghana to trade with other member states in a more modern and sophisticated manner.

Speaking at the first Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Executive Forum in Accra yesterday, the President said, “Empowered Ghanaian businesses and enterprises should be frontline actors in this new exciting journey in Africa's economic history.”

As part of efforts by government to create a business friendly environment in Ghana, President Akufo-Addo said he had requested the leadership of the Bank of Ghana to expedite action on addressing the high interest rates challenge that clearly affects the private sector negatively as far as the ease of doing business is concerned.

“I have requested the governor to interrogate the issue of high interest rate in Ghana and how the problem could be addressed to enhance the competitiveness of the private sector,” he said.

On his part, Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen said government was introducing a Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) mechanism to engage all CEOs in Ghana to foster an all-year round interaction that would ensure that government listens to the ultimate decision makers of corporate Ghana.

That, he said, was a build up on previous ones such as the Ghana Investors Advisory Council that was introduced during the previous Kufuor-led administration, the private enterprise foundation introduced to create a body to present a single voice for the private sector, and the national economic forum created under the former administration.

The Trade Minister indicated that the dialogue would be an all-year round activity that would extend to other regions apart from Accra.

Additionally, a coordinating mechanism in the form of a secretariat has since been established to facilitate the activities of the PPD mechanism and process the outcome of all PPD engagements into policy interventions of the government.

---Daily Guide