The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has lauded government’s industrialization drive as presented by the Finance Minister on the floor of parliament during the presentation of the 2019 bugdet.
The AGI says the move is commendable but urged the government to work to see the plan through.
While addressing members of the AGI at their 58th Annual General Meeting, President of the AGI, Dr. Adu Gyamfi lauded government’s industrialization drive which he said touched on numerous sectors which will help industries grow.
Speaking on the exit of the IMF from Ghana, the President also assured that the AGI will work together with government toward the exit of the IMF.
“I believe industry experience, relative macro-economic stability this year along with part of fiscal consolidation parts of IMF’s interventions. What measures government will adopt in 2019 to sustain this fiscal consolidation and gains as we exit IMF support remain a great concern and we will like to work with government on this measure” he said.
Touching on the impact of the cedi’s performance, Dr. Adu Gyamfi lamented how the profits of businesses had dropped in due to the instability of the cedi this year.
“With the cedi yielding its pressure, from the major trading currencies within this second half of the year, some uncertainties have been created in our businesses and also we see that it is really affecting our business. It is not the surprise that if you see our business barometer for quarter three 2018, there is a drop in business confidence from 104.8 to 94 points which is a clear indication that now businesses are suffering” he lamented.
Meanwhile Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo who was the guest speaker at the event assured the businesses of the government’s intervention to avert significant depreciation of the local currency against major international currencies.
“There is something very interesting about the cedi depreciation. If you look at the budget, the cedi depreciation is quite an interesting phenomenon. The cedi depreciated 3.2 percent against the Euro, about 2 percent against the yen and in all the other major currencies less than 2 percent, but 7.8 percent against the dollar. So the problem is the strength of the dollar not the weakness of the cedi” he explained.
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By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana.
