Ghana needs a liberal environment
Mr Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist, has stated that Ghana needs a liberal environment to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) to bolster the economy.
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He said a liberal environment would not only make Ghana a hub in several sectors in only West Africa but also the whole of Africa.
Delivering his opening remarks as chair for the Daily Graphic/Fidelity Bank Breakfast Meeting on the state of the economy last Tuesday, Mr Pianim said Ghana had the opportunity to take advantage of the window opened to it by some of the difficulties and challenges facing its neighbours which, are the natural markets and destinations for most investments.
“If we do not take the opportunity to create a legal environment where we can move in and move out easily, we will be condemned to a market of 25 million consumers with a $30-billion purchasing power,” he said.
Opening up Ghana
“We can either do that or open up Ghana to become the aviation hub, the maritime hub, the financial services hub, the oil and gas engineering services hub, not only for West Africa but also Africa. That’s the choice for Ghana, but we need a liberal environment,” he said.
Mr Pianim explained that “without a relatively stable, credible, predictable and sustainable macroeconomic environment, we cannot do most of the things we need to do”.
“We need to be able to attract foreign direct investment for our infrastructure. The type of engineered financial practice that goes into building infrastructure for us — build, operate and own; build, operate and transfer — will not come in if we don’t have a relatively stable currency and a policy environment,” he added.
Technology inflows
He said without FDI, technology inflows might not take place, and advocated that all sectors of the economy be infused with technology.
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“Technology continuous inflow will not happen without foreign direct investment; that will not happen when the macroeconomic environment is not stable,” he said.
He congratulated the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) on bringing together former ministers of finance “to share their experiences on the state of the economy and make suggestions on ways to improve it”.
The objective of the Breakfast Meeting was to seek answers to Ghana’s current economic challenges.
Mr Pianim said the meeting was innovative because it sought a non-partisan approach to tackling Ghana’s current crisis.
“We have only one nation to make prosperous and safe for all,” he said.
Quoting a statement made by President John Mahama when he delivered his State of the Nation Address, Mr Pianim said, “This is not the time for anybody to stand on the sidelines.”
Ghana at the crossroads
“I think that Ghana is at the crossroads and the current turbulence (as the President put it) may force us to go to the old, tested, tried and failed policies of the past — protectionism, import substitution — which did not help. The solutions of the 20th century are no longer valid for the 21st century,” he said.
Making a contribution at the meeting, Prof George Gyan-Baffour, a former deputy minister of Finance, said the fundamentals and foundation of the economy were bad.
“So if we don’t resolve the foundational problem, we cannot stop any of these fundamental issues. One, we export gold raw, cocoa raw, oil raw, timber raw, everything raw. We need to convert gold to trinkets, cocoa to chocolate, bauxite to alumina and aluminium — that is what we must agree on,” he said.
Dr Nii Noi Ashong, a former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, also asked for the timely disbursements from the Consolidated Fund to prevent some of the fiscal challenges.
Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh