{"id":342912,"date":"2017-08-07T15:50:19","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T15:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=342912"},"modified":"2017-11-10T10:42:54","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T10:42:54","slug":"over-dependence-on-gold-oil-risky-for-economy-economist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/over-dependence-on-gold-oil-risky-for-economy-economist\/","title":{"rendered":"Over dependence on gold, oil risky for economy \u2013 Economist"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Africa Strategist for Research at Barclays, Rydel Marcus has impressed on government to channel investments to grow Ghana\u2019s industrial subsector.<\/p>\n
He argues that the over dependence on the commodities\u2019 market has the potential to distort government\u2019s growth targets and must be relooked at.<\/p>\n
Rydel Marcus believes that industries must be given the appropriate support to diversify Ghana\u2019s exports to increase competitiveness.<\/p>\n
He made the remarks at this year\u2019s Ghana Economic Forum (GEF) in Accra on Monday.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSince 2010 and 2011, there has been an increasing correlation between the economy and the performance of commodities. It is therefore no surprise that as the commodities\u2019 index picked up, the real GDP may also go up from 2017 till the next two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Declining crude oil prices have for instance affected Ghana\u2019s revenue from the oil sector even though the country is a net importer of oil.<\/p>\n
But Rydel Marcus believes reversing this trend should also attract more Foreign Direct Investments into the country.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHigher commodities output of gold, oil and cocoa means the challenge is how to make the economy diversified so that its link with commodities is weakened yet we want to reap the full benefits of the commodity cycle,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Senior Minister pushes for support for private sector<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo has warned of dire economic consequences should the private sector be deprived of the needed support to grow.<\/p>\n