GNCC Holds 42nd AGM in Accra

By Kingsley Asare and Evangel Kelvin Ainoo

Government should expedite action on its industrialisation policy agenda and commitment of building industrial parks to expand industrial activities in the country, the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has said.

The President of the GNCCI, Nana Dr Appiagyei Dankawoso I, who made the call at the 42nd Annual General Meeting of the Chamber in Accra yesterday, said the implementation of the industrialisation agenda policy and the establishment of industrial parks would help create a lot of jobs and reduce the unemployment rate in the country.

As part of the programme, new national officers namely Nana Dr Appiagyei Dankawoso, President, Mrs Victoria M.E Hajar, 2nd Vice President, and Harry Ebenezer Mensah, National Treasurer were elected to man the organisation for the next two years.

Nana Dr Dankawoso in his welcome address said the government and relevant stakeholders, as a matter of urgency, should find a medium-to-long term measurable solutions to the industrialisation challenges facing the country.

He commended the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for the measures it had taken to sustain and build a thriving banking industry and said the measures taken to collapse Capital and UT Banks and consolidate the Beige, uniBank, Royal, Sovereign and Construction banks, which were part of the collective aim of building a competitive and resilient financial sector, were in a good direction.

"The Chamber applauds the BoG and other relevant institutions for taking such a bold and decisive initiative to prevent what would potentially have a major banking crisis in the financial sector of the Ghanaian economy, of which the private sector would have been a major victim," he said.

He said the Chamber was of the opinion that the decision was in the collective interest of the banking sector, and called on the BoG to initiate and implement effective regulatory measures to prevent such occurrence in the future.

Nana Dr Dankawoso I entreated government to create incentives for the other sectors of the economy to expand in order to curtail the unemployment spillovers that would emanate from the jobs of the collapse and consolidation of the two and five banks.

The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Robert Ahomka-Lindsey, who delivered the keynote address said government would continue to initiate policies to create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive; stressing the private sector was the engine of growth and creators of jobs and opportunities.

Mr Ahomka-Lindsey stressed that the One District, One Factory (1D1F) campaign promise of the government would be delivered by the year 2020 and that GH¢2.5 billion had been allocated by the government to support the implementation of the programme.

"Building a business cannot be done overnight," he said, indicating that 50 of the 1D1F had started and about 100 was receiving financial support from the private sector.

The Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Addison, who was the guest of honour in a speech read on his behalf said his outfit was working to ensure a stable macroeconomic environment.

He said the economy was strong and stable and business confidence in the economy was growing and was hopeful lending rates would come down in view of the easing of the monetary policy rate.

The Governor said the cedi which came under pressures last month partly due to the Federal rate hike and the strong performance of the US dollar, was now beginning to gain its strength.

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