Programme with IMF won’t collapse SMEs — Veep
The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has debunked assertions that conditions tied to Ghana’s sourcing of credit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will cripple small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Rather, he explained that the programme with the IMF would help control tax levels and the cost of credit for the benefit of businesses.
Addressing the opening ceremony of Standard Chartered (StanChart) Bank Africa Business Summit in Accra yesterday, the Vice-President expressed concern over the misleading comments that sought to create the erroneous impression that SMEs were at risk of collapse as a result of the IMF programme.
The summit, which is on the theme: “The Last Frontier: Is Africa Ready for Transformation?”, assembled the top echelons of the business community to brainstorm on the way forward towards Africa’s transformational agenda.
The event was also designed to make Ghana benefit from insights of the panels that were assembled to review global developments and help position the country to take advantage of the opportunities available.
Africa’s potential
The Vice-President expressed optimism about prospects in Africa, noting that the continent had a growing educated work force which had the potential to raise the growth rates of the economies in Africa for the region to be integrated into the global economy.
He added that political stability and democratic governance continued to strengthen political and economic institutions in Africa.
He made reference to the Regional Economic Outlook report which was launched by the World Bank in Accra this week and said current attempts to stimulate mature economies would have an overall impact on emerging economies and that countries that were able to position themselves properly would be the beneficiaries.
Bright prospects
On Ghana, Mr Amissah-Arthur, who described the country’s medium-term prospects as interesting, indicated that with the latent advantages of oil and gas, agricultural and light manufacturing, the country could maximise those gains if the vulnerabilities created by fiscal imbalances in the last decade were reduced.
He said the government was working to create conditions for resuming non-inflationary growth which led to the national economic forum at Senchi in May last year.
“There was understanding that the government needed to establish a working relationship with the IMF whose support was needed to consolidate the fiscal situation in the shortest time,” he disclosed.
Finance Minister
The Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Terkper, who spoke on the topic: “The paradox of becoming a middle-income country”, told the delegates that Ghana’s attainment of a middle-income status was the result of the re-basing of the economy, coupled with the export of crude oil in 2011.
He expressed optimism about the economic prospects for transformation in the next three years and said Ghana was a shining example in Africa.
For him, the country had chalked up economic successes but those positives had not been given the deserved highlight.
Earlier in her welcoming remarks, the Executive Director and Head of Financial Markets of Standard Chartered Bank, Ghana, Mrs Mansa Nettey, said Africa was now the biggest growing investment destination, with foreign direct investment inflows of about $80 billion.
She projected that Africa would have the largest labour force by 2040 and underscored the need for African governments to prepare their youth for the opportunities that would come along by developing the human resource.
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