The Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians of better economic management under the NPP if the party is voted into power in 2016.
He bemoaned the current economic challenges facing country which he blamed on poor leadership and economic mismanagement.
[contextly_sidebar id=”gAK5UWvWDrPmlRHra0NTeAVOxwwsfXos”]Nana Addo was addressing some party supporters in the Western Region where he cited neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire as an example of a country employing proper management policies to improve the economic conditions.
“Our cocoa industry is going down. This year, with the same area of cultivation, next door Cote d’Ivoire is producing 1.7 million tonnes a year yet we cannot even produce 700,000 tonnes a year, everything is in a mess in this country,” he said.
Nana Addo expressed concern at Ghana’s inability to attain at least half of Cote d’Ivoire’s annual agricultural export value which currently stands at 12 billion dollars.
“Ghana’s agricultural export value is about 2 billion dollars, but next door- smaller country, lesser population with proper leadership and management, the export value of Ivory Coast 12 billion dollars a year, that is the difference,we are struggling here on 2 billion dollars,” he said.
Meanwhile a report released by the IMF on Wednesday has named Ghana among 36 other countries eligible to receive assistance under the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
This however comes after the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Henry Kofi Wampah dismissed assertions the country was HIPC despite a Gh¢94.5 billion debt representing over 70 percent of the country’s GDP.
The Western Region is the sixth stop of the “rise and build” campaign tour. The tour which begun in the Volta Region has made stops at other four regions including the Eastern and the three Northern regions.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citifmonline.com/Ghana