I’ll arrest decline in value of cedi — Prez

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given an assurance that the government will do everything possible to arrest the recent depreciation of the cedi.

A statement from the Jubilee House said the President was upset by the current state of the national currency and indicated that everything was being done to restore the value against the major currencies.

“I am extremely upset and anxious about it, but I want to assure you that all efforts are being made to arrest the decline and restore the cedi to stability,” he said.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Fujian Sentuo Ceramics Company at Kpone in the Greater Accra Region yesterday, the President said the arrest of the free fall of the cedi would improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian industry.

“Very soon we will be seeing the results of our policy,” he told the gathering.

1D1F

The Fujian Sentuo Ceramics Company is a ceramic tile manufacturing company operating under the One-district One-factory (1D1F) initiative of the government.

The company, which employs 1,500 people, sources 90 per cent of its raw materials in the country, mainly from the Central and Western regions.

Interest rate

President Akufo-Addo indicated that the government was also working hard to bring down interest rates, which was crucial to doing business.

“We are working to bring down interest rates so that we increase the ability of businesses to fund their activities, while we are putting in place new arrangements for the Agricultural Development Bank and the National Investment Bank, so that they can be more focused on providing the funds for medium- and long-term investments for industrial development,” he said.

Inflation down

President Akufo-Addo said the economy was doing well and that the future looked good for the country.

He noted that in the course of the last two years, the monetary policy rate of the Bank of Ghana had been reducing and inflation had also gone down significantly.

“All of these are efforts that we are making to improve the business environment and make it possible for our enterprises in Ghana to be competitive,” he said.

Investment

The President commended the managers of the company for taking advantage of the policies rolled out by the government under the 1D1F policy to make the investment.

President Akufo-Addo indicated that the government wanted to achieve a significant level of industrial development and that was why he commenced, immediately after his assumption of office, a programme of industrial transformation.

“The industrial transformation agenda is anchored on a 10-point plan confronting the private sector and its ability to spearhead the development of our country,” he said.

He said some of the challenges that were being tackled to boost investments were the high cost of doing business, lack of access to medium-and long-term financing, poor infrastructure and logistics support for enterprises and commercial activities, inadequate skilled manpower and limited access to technology, innovation and research.

Embrace factory

The President urged the people of Tema and Kpone Katamanso “to embrace this factory and the work that is being done here and give the Chinese promoters of the factory the maximum support.”

“I am determined, in my period in office, to make the steps that will bring about structural changes in the manner in which the Ghanaian economy works, so we can have the sustained development and progress that our people are looking for,” he said.