Vice President Dr Muhammadu Bawumia, in light of the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, has noted three (3) sectors of the economy that need additional investments to support the overall recovery and further growth of the economy.
In a report examining Ghana’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and issued jointly by the Oxford Business Group and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Dr Bawumia named the agricultural sector as one of the key sectors in dire need of investments.
According to the Vice President, the agricultural sector remains one of the most critical sectors in need of additional investments especially during this era of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Bawumia’s view is shared by many given the fact that, the agricultural sector was the sole sector to record positive growth as the pandemic ravaged and negatively impacted the remaining sectors of the economy.
The agricultural sector for Q3 2020, recorded a 8.3 percentage points growth whereas industry and services contracted by 5 and 1.1 per cent respectively.
The second sector needing additional investments the Vice President pointed out is industry.
He posited that more investments in the nation’s industrial sector will be needed aside the implementation of government’s ambitious Covid-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support (CARES) programme aimed at investing over Ghs 100 billion in the sector.
Dr Bawumia is however, of the view that the location of the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will help in this regard, as he expects Ghana to become a regional manufacturing centre.
“We believe our country has the potential to become a centre in many areas such as petrochemicals, financial services, education and digital services,” he told researchers of the Oxford Business Group.
“Another area for investment is infrastructure, specifically transport infrastructure such as new and upgraded roads, railways and ports,” he stated.
Presently, Ghana’s infrastructure challenges require annual infrastructure expenditure of about $2.3 billion. The country currently spends about $1.2 billion per year on infrastructure with a $1.1 billion gap, which needs to be addressed for accelerated growth and national development.
Currently, a six-phase Master Railway Plan by government is expected to attract significant investments this year – 2021. This follows recent infrastructure investments such as the Master Project Support Agreement with Sinohydro to construct $2 billion worth projects that include roads, hospitals, bridges and housing.
