Prez Mahama inaugurates tomato processing factory

President John Dramani Mahama has appealed to Ghanaians to support the government's initiative of transforming the economy into an export-led one.

He said the effort would reduce the country's import dependency and retain the amount of foreign exchange spent each year on imports.

"Ghana has a comparative advantage of producing, hence the continuous expenditure of some $1.5 billion annually on importation of commodities such as rice, tomatoes, poultry, fish, vegetable oil, among others, could lead to stagnant economic growth," President Mahama said.

President Mahama made the call when he inaugurated a multi-million dollar tomato processing and packaging factory in Tema yesterday.

The $50 million investment under the Conserveria Africana Group, importers of Gino and Pomo brand tomato puree, would see the products being packaged locally.

President Mahama said in the 2014 fiscal year, Ghana made inroads in reducing commodity import marginally.