Finance Ministry to assess economic impact of Year of Return initiative

The Ministry of Finance says it is setting up a unit to assess the economic impact of the Year of Return initiative announced by President Akufo-Addo.

The Year of Return was initiated by the government last year to encourage Africans living outside the continent to visit Ghana to mark 400 years of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown, Virginia.

The economic returns of the initiative sparked debates after a section of the public disputed initial figures put out by the Ministry of Tourism.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the government is expecting about US$1.5 billion in return for the initiative.

Already, the Ghana Tourism Authority has disclosed that GH¢6 million was expended on the initiative. The GTA has also estimated one million visits for 2019 due to the Year of Return initiative.

But the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta assured that his outfit is currently assessing the economic benefit of the initiative and will soon come out with its findings.

“The Ministry is going to have a unit to look at the economic impact of the Year of Return. So, that unit is going to be the research angle; understanding where these resources are and who are the wealthy people who can take care of the specific areas of interest”.

He stated that the Presidency is also building a database of human resource capacity of the Year of Return to enhance the initiative.