The assurance by Finance Minister that the currency will stabilise by the end of this year and the pledge by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) to assist the government to navigate the current economic challenges and return the economy to the path of stability and sustained growth are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, has given assurance that the currency will stabilise by the end of this year.
As part of efforts to achieve that, the minister said the Bank of Ghana (BoG) had intensified efforts at addressing speculation which he said was fuelling the depreciation of the Ghana cedi, including dealing with other challenges militating against the local currency in the long term.
Mr Ofori-Atta, who gave the assurance at an Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) forum in Accra last Thursday, however, stressed the need for citizens to play their part to create a macroeconomic environment capable of meeting the essential needs of individual households and businesses.
Others were from Coca Cola Bottling Company of Ghana, Jospong Group of Companies, Guinness Ghana, GHACEM Limited, Activa International Insurance, Coconut Grove Hotel, Kasapreko Company Limited and Wilmar Africa Limited.
The participants later went into a closed-door session during which they engaged the minister on how to carry through some of the President’s requests for support to revive the economy in the short term, among other issues.
The newspaper says that the former President John Dramani Mahama has stated that small entrepreneurs are frustrated as they break their backs to keep their businesses open against rising prices of goods.
In a post on Facebook, the former President said: “Prices of items including everyday medication, salt, gari and cooking oil, are constantly on the rise.”
For him, “If you do not buy an item at a particular point in time, you are likely to find that the price has significantly increased a few hours later.”
Prices of items including everyday medication, salt, gari and cooking oil, are constantly on the rise. If you do not buy an item at a particular point in time, you are likely to find that the price has significantly increased a few hours later.
Small entrepreneurs are frustrated as they break their backs to keep their businesses open against great odds. This is not just an instalment in cyclical hardships, and we should not pretend.
The Graphic also reports that the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has assured the government of its utmost support to navigate the current economic challenges and return the economy to the path of stability and sustained growth.
The AGI, an association of manufacturing and service-related companies, said it believed it had the requisite skills and capacity for domestic processing and production which it would avail to the government to reduce imports, increase economic activities and shore up productivity and revenue.
The President of the AGI, Dr Humphrey Ayim-Darke, in an interview with the Daily Graphic over the weekend, said the association was willing and ready to work with the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to accelerate industrialisation and boost market confidence in the short to medium term.
He, however, expressed concern over what he described as the unmeasured commentary about the economy and its handlers, noting that such a development risked fueling speculation and deepening the woes of companies, investors and the populace.
The interview was at the maiden AGI 2022 CEOs Corporate Forum held last Thursday to find solutions to the current challenges facing businesses.
It also afforded the association the opportunity to make inputs into the 2023 budget.
The Minister of Finance graced the meeting, which was attended by categories One to Three members of the AGI.
Dr Ayim-Darke indicated that calls for the removal of Mr Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Charles Adu Boahen, would not necessarily resolve the economic woes.
Therefore, he said, those calls should not be seen as the greatest concern of industry.
“As the Minister of Finance, no one needs to tell me the ravages of the cedi depreciation which has become an albatross on the neck of our local industries and the high cost of living for all citizens,” he said.
The minister said the global situation had led to the depreciation of the Yen, Pound and the Euro, “while the dollar keeps getting stronger, the exchange rates keep increasing with the resultant economic challenges”.
The forum was attended by chief executives, managers and directors of firms such as Nestle Ghana, Nandis Limited, Hollard Ghana, Unilever Ghana, Poly Plus Limited and Metalex Limited.
The Ghanaian Times says that Ghana needs between US$9.3 billion and US$15 billion to implement its revised climate action plan under the Paris Climate Agreement.
The plan, technically known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), and aimed at reducing emissions and adapt to climate impacts, is being implemented from now to 2030.
Each party to the Paris Agreement including Ghana is required to establish an NDC and update it every five years.
Speaking at a pre-COP27 briefing in Accra yesterday, Peter Dery, Director of Environment, Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, said Ghana’s NDCs outline two main goals related to the energy transition by scaling-up renewable energy penetration by 10 per cent by 2030 and replacing light crude oil for electricity generation in thermal plants with natural gas.
He noted that the country’s NDCs were focused on leveraging natural resources to fund sustainable transition to a low carbon economy growth.
Mr Dery stated that, additionally, it aimed at enhancing Ghana’s climate change mitigation goal of reducing 64 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 by implementing 34 mitigation programmes of action while ensuring the creation of green jobs, and improving wellbeing of the citizenry.
The ministry, he said, was engaging and working with stakeholders and partners to put in place critical policies and regulatory arrangements that would enable the mobilisation of resources from the carbon market to achieve the set targets.
Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, stated that, Ghana and Africa as a whole, which makes the smallest contribution to the climate crises was the most vulnerable and facing the brunt of the consequences.
To this end, he said the country was working through the Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN) to put forward its thinking and demands for climate action.
Among the demands, was the mobilisation and scaling-up of adaptation finance flows to meet adaptation needs and reduce vulnerability as well as innovative financing including debt for adaptation, he stated.
GIK/APA