The assurance by the government of a quicker turnaround in the economic fortunes of the country, after data has shown that the economy expanded at a faster rate than projected is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that the government has assured the citizenry of a quicker turnaround in the economic fortunes of the country, after data has shown that the economy expanded at a faster rate than projected.
It has, therefore, asked the citizenry to have faith in it as it quickened the process to ease the challenges and return life back to the days before the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that last year’s growth rate of 5.4 per cent was evidence that the economy was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic faster than initially anticipated.
Mr Nkrumah said the government was now fast-tracking the implementation of strategic measures to build on last year’s growth and guide the economy out of the current challenges for the benefit of the citizenry.
He mentioned stronger collaboration with the private sector, prudent management of resources and a reduction in non-core spending as some of the initiatives being implemented by the government to restore the economy to stability and growth.
Mr Nkrumah, who is the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase Ayirebi in the Eastern Region, was speaking after data had shown that economic growth for 2021 had beaten the forecasts.
Data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicates that the economy expanded by 5.4 per cent last year as a result of strong growth in the third and the fourth quarters, as well as bullish recoveries in the agricultural and the services sectors.
The newspaper says that in a bid to take advantage of the $7.5 million activated carbon market, the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Zaacoal Company Limited to produce activated carbon for the mining industry in Ghana.
The agreement would see Zaacoal Limited producing the first activated carbon in large quantities locally, using a technology designed and developed by UMaT.
The Vice Chancellor of UMaT, Professor Richard K. Amankwa, signed on behalf of the university, with the Chief Executive Officer of Zaacoal, Sulley Amin Abubakar, initialling for his company.
The signing follows engagements between the two parties which were first initiated by the Ghana Chamber of Mines.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Accra, the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Sulemanu Koney, said the mining industry in Ghana alone imported about $7.5 million worth of activated carbon annually.
He said the chamber was, therefore, excited by the agreement as it would help save the country of the amount used in importing the product, while at the same time creating jobs.
“We are excited because we at the chamber have been on a journey on how we can use the mining industry for broad-based socio economic development. There are various opportunities within the supply chain of the mining industry which we believe we have the capacity to do rather than importing,” he stated.
Dr Koney noted that because the chamber was a research-based institution, it had been scanning the environment to see where it could find opportunities in the mining industry.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Chairman, ECOWAS Trade Liberation Scheme-Task Force has said that it is possible to achieve single currency for West African countries if the countries scale up interregional trade,
He said trade between member states in West Africa remains between 10 and 15 per cent over the past decade, accounting for loss of revenue for governments and businesses.
Dr Chambas was speaking at a two-day joint regional workshop for stakeholders of cross border trade and rule of law workshop for Ghana, Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Nigeria organised by the POS Foundation in Accra.
Dr Chambas, a Ghanaian diplomat and politician, said the workshop which sought to enhance free movement of goods, people, finance and investment could improve the standard of living of small scale traders.
A former Member of Parliament for Bimbilla Constituency in the Northern Region, Dr Chambas, said that it had taken too long for Africa to promote economic integration, more than half a century after colonisation.
He told the participants from Anglo-Francophone countries that removing trade barriers was central to the integration of the West-Africa sub-region.
Dr Chambers who was recently the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General and Head of the West African Office and the Sahel (UNOWAS) asked for collaboration among state institutions, civil society and businesses.
For his part, Mr Jonathan Owusu, the Executive Director of POS Foundation, said Africa could achieve economic emancipation if the countries traded among themselves.
He urged harmonisation of technology and innovation, as well as provision of legal support, which the POS Foundation was seeking to provide to improve trade among member states.
The newspaper says that the National Cocoa Rehabilitation Project (NCRP) gets major boost as Kumad Global Impact Limited and Afarinick Company Limited, establish the largest plantain nursery at Dadieso, in the Suaman District of the Western North Region.
The two indigenous companies started work in December last year, and, currently employ about 900 permanent workers and hope to increase the number to about 2,000 by the end of June, this year.
Working under a Private-Public- Partnership arrangement with Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), they have introduced quality expertise in Ghana’s agricultural value chain and cocoa production, using green technology to multiply plantain suckers on a 400 acre land for the NCRP.
They have forecasted to produce over 100 million plantain suckers in two years to support the project.
These were revealed when a lead scientist for Global Impact and Afarinick, Beloved Mensah Dzomeku, briefed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of COCOBOD, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, at the nursery last Wednesday, as part of his recent working visit to some NCRP projects in the Western North Region.
He explained that actual production began in February this year when they transported plantain suckers from Agogo in the Ashanti Region to the site at Dadieso.
Mr Dzomeku said, propagation of the seedling was done after the suckers were planted in saw dust and covered with polythene and watered, and, that after three weeks, sprouting started.
At week four, the suckers were harvested and transplanted in polythene bags and watering continued, the scientist reported.
He said, every week, a set of plantain suckers were multiplied using the propagation chamber at 60 degrees Celsius, filled with saw dust, using solar heat and water, to generate about 32 million planting materials by September.
GIK/APA