Club 100 Awards: Businesses will thrive under AfCFTA — Bawumia

Transforming the economy from predominantly informal to formal will help private businesses to reap the full benefit of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Vice-President, Mahamudu Bawumia, has stated.

He said through the digitalisation of various systems of government, the private sector would not only be strengthened to become more competitive in the market, but also help to reduce human interface which bred corruption and impeded private sector development.

Dr Bawumia, who was speaking at the Ghana Club 100 Awards in Accra last Friday, explained that the government had made digitalisation a priority to transform the economy since assuming office and said the existing system which was largely informal was riddled with indiscipline and tax evasion, among other ills.

He extolled the usefulness of the Ghana Card in helping the country establish a robust credit scoring system which he said would track and uniquely identify all borrowers and said that the digitalisation programme of the country which was anchored on the Ghana Card had so far enrolled about 17 million people.

"Today, we have  linked the Ghana Card numbers to the Controller and Accountant General Department's (CAGDs) payroll, and we are  seeing increases in the formalisation of the economy as a result of digitalisation,” he said.

Dr Bawumia, therefore, urged the private sector to see AfCFTA, the world's largest free trade area by membership which embraced 54 African countries with 1.3 billion population and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.4 trillion, as a catalyst for economic expansion. 

Event

Organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) in collaboration with the MIE Group - organisers of the China Trade Week, the ceremony which was the 20th edition of the Ghana Club 100 Awards, was on the theme: "Accelerating economic growth; Amplifying Ghana’s global market footprint through AFCFTA”.

It was aimed at providing a robust platform for assessing Ghanaian companies while fostering the resilience and confidence necessary for global competitiveness.

It celebrated decades of resilience, innovation and excellence demonstrated by Ghanaian businesses across strategic sectors, including agriculture and agribusiness, financial services, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), infrastructure, petroleum, mining services, manufacturing, tourism, health and education.

This year's edition was preceded with a three-day Ghana Investment Week in October, which brought together, investors, industry leaders, policymakers and other stakeholders.

Awards

In spite of  the financial sector, particularly rural banks dominating this year's awards, Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (Ahafo South Mine) topped 99 other companies to clinch the best company in the country.

Scancom Plc Ghana (MTN Ghana) took the second spot while Amanex Company Limited took the third position.

Gold Fields Ghana (Tarkwa Mine) took the fourth position, with Newmont Golden Ridge Ltd (Akyem Mine) taking the fifth spot.

Anglogold Ashanti Ltd and Dansworld International Services placed sixth and seventh respectively.

The Abosso Goldfields Ltd, Benso Oil Palm Plantation Ltd and FBNBank Ghana took the eighth, ninth and tenth positions, respectively.

Opportunity

The Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC, Yofi Grant, for his part, said AfCFTA provided an opportunity for Ghanaian businesses to expand to other African countries.

He said GIPC was leading strategies to complement government’s efforts by instituting various measures to bolster Ghana's private sector's competitiveness on the African continent.

Mr Grant also pledged the GIPC’s commitment to create more avenues to enhance a private sector interaction with the government.

That, he said, would help businesses to thrive and generate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to support the economy.

He further called for stronger collaboration among Ghanaian companies to create a win-win situation for investors and the country.