The pledge by President Akufo-Addo that the government is working hard to, among others, stem the tide of surging inflation and depreciation of the cedi, to bring relief to businesses is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the government is not oblivious of the current economic challenges facing the country and the difficulties businesses are going through as a result of rising inflating and depreciation of the Cedi, according to President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He said government was working hard to, among others, stem the tide of surging inflation and depreciation of the cedi, to bring relief to businesses.
President Akufo-Addo said this in speech read on his behalf by Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, during the Ghana Club 100 Awards at the weekend.
The programme organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and 19th in the series was on the theme “Ghana’s Private Sector – A Catalyst for Pandemic Transformation,” was sponsored by KGL Foundation, M&G Pharmaceutical Limited and other partners.
Zeepay Ghana Limited emerged winner, followed by Newmont Ghana Gold Limited, which also won the GIPC special award on Corporate Social Responsibility, Multipro Private Limited came third, Gold Fields Ghana Limited came forth, and Scancom Plc took the fifth position.
As part of the programme, the GIPC launched the GIPC Mentorship Programme, meant to support the youth to create their own businesses.
The newspaper says that President Akufo-Addo said that his government believed in developing the economy on the shoulders of the private sector.
“We believe in the economy and that is led by the private sector. We believe growth must be led by the private sector,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo lauded the private sector for its resilience, saying in spite of the COVID-19 and the Russian Ukraine war, some businesses were still strong.
He commended the award winners and also GIPC for organising the awards to recognise private sector businesses which had performed exceptionally over the year.
The Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC, Yofi Grant, in his address, said the award was to celebrate the most outstanding companies in corporate Ghana.
“After a two-year hiatus, it fills me with immense pride and joy to see us gathered once more to celebrate the private sector in Ghana,” he said, indicating that the programme was suspended in 2019 after the 18th edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the COVID-19 had disrupted global trade and commerce, with its effects being felt by every country in the world, including Ghana.
“The private sector in Ghana has had to change significantly to accommodate the exigencies of the pandemic. Entrepreneurs and businesses were compelled to seek out and adopt new strategies to modify their business operations to remain productive and stable,” Mr Grant, said.
The Graphic reports that the prospect of Ghana securing an expedited deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been given another boost, as the United Kingdom (UK), Germany and France have pledged to support the country to deal with its current economic crisis.
These financing commitments came on the back of closed-door bilateral meetings hosted by a government delegation in Washington, DC, USA.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Finance Minister said “Ghana still has great strengths to build on, as our productive sectors are still growing, expenditures are being contained and the formal conclusion of IMF negotiations should support our balance of payments position”.
“Consequently, our bilateral partners are demonstrating increased support for our recovery plan,” he added.
Negotiations with the IMF are set to continue this week as Ghana’s delegation has outlined the broad policy anchors for the government’s flagship Post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).
The PC-PEG, referred to in the 2022 Mid-Year Budget Statement as the Enhanced Domestic Programme (EDP), contains a set of time-bound structural reforms and fiscal consolidation measures to place the country’s debt levels and fiscal accounts on a sustainable path over the medium term.
The minister said like many other countries, Ghana was operating amid a confluence of adverse shocks heightened by debt vulnerabilities.
The newspaper says that former President John Dramani Mahama has noted that the African continent witnessed a reversal of some of the democratic gains that were achieved in the 1990s and 2000s in the year 2021.
For him, the African continent experienced a turbulent year in 2021 in terms of the provision of peace and security.
In a post on Facebook on Sunday, October 16, 2022, former President Mahama said the continent witnessed the resurgence of unconstitutional changes of government, contestation for state power, the regionalisation of violent conflict and return to authoritarian rule and the undermining of the rule of law, both of which are drivers of violent conflict.
GIK/APA