Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia (middle) presenting an award to Mr Kwasi Agyeman Busia (left), CEO, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), at the 5th CEOs Summit in Accra. With them is Mr Kofi Abotsi (right), Dean of the Faculty of Law, UPSA . Picture: SAMUEL TEI ADANO

Government focused on strong economy — VP Bawumia

Chris Nunoo Business News May - 18 - 2021 , 08:15

The government will focus on building sustainable businesses and a resilient economy to adequately prepare for unexpected occurrences such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has assured.

To that end, he said businesses, by necessity, had to integrate appropriate digital technologies in their operations in order to increase productivity.

“The pandemic has presented a much-needed opportunity with which we can reset the economy while still building upon the solid foundation already laid. One of the lessons the pandemic has taught us is that digitisation is the future, a future that perhaps started yesterday,” he stated.

Speaking at the opening of the fifth Ghana Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Summit in Accra yesterday, Dr Bawumia said it was imperative to reset and reignite businesses and the economy in these times, to ensure the continuous growth and development of the economy.

Conference

The two-day conference, which is a platform for business leaders and policymakers to engage on issues affecting businesses and the economy in the digital transformation period, was organised by the Chief Executives Network Ghana Limited in partnership with Deloitte, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA).

It was on the theme: “Digital transformation; powering business and government reset for a post-pandemic economic resilience- a public-private sector dialogue.”

Over 400 CEOs, entrepreneurs, business leaders, shareholders, investors, ministers, heads of financial institutions, top consultants and policymakers from Ghana and other countries are attending the conference.

Re-examination

Amid all the challenging times, Dr Bawumia said: “We must continue to re-examine our ways and means of doing things from home to office, from farm to factory and between government, citizens and businesses.”

Vice-President Bawumia added: “The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated ample systemic flaws in the way we do things, including the way we conduct business, thereby requiring us to re-think and re-orient ourselves and our businesses.”

He posited that the country could not succeed if it held on to the old ways of doing things.

Therefore for the country to survive, it had to dwell on the lessons learnt from the pandemic in the future.

Resilient economy

The Vice-President said building a resilient economy had been the focus of the Akufo-Addo administration since January 7, 2017.

Therefore, he said, the government had engaged businesses to help provide solutions for the development bottlenecks of the country.

“In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic raged the world and severely affected all aspects of our lives. The pandemic, undoubtedly affected businesses and economies globally, leading to immeasurable losses in various sectors. Key drivers of economic growth suffered, business slowed down and disruptions in global supply chains and trade threatened financial markets and the financial system as a whole,” he stated.