Ghana may take a longer time to progress if it does not move from exporting raw materials for foreign revenue instead of adding value to them.<\/p>\n
This trend according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been the norm since time immemorial adding that it has even become worse.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”VX7MXteSN7rQLm0kHOneO7cRJLcvmYyX”]\u201cIn 1928, 70 percent of our foreign exchange earnings were from gold, cocoa and timber. Figures in 2016 from the Bank of Ghana\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee revealed that this situation has not changed but has rather worsened.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said almost 80 percent of the country\u2019s foreign exchange earnings in 2016 were from gold, cocoa and oil.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not right and cannot and should not continue.\u00a0 There can be no future prosperity for our people in the short, medium or long term if we continue to maintain economic structures which are dependent on the production and export of raw materials. We must add value to these resources and we must industrialize,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
President Akufo-Addo made the remark on\u00a0Friday when he launched government\u2019s much hyped One-District-One-Factory<\/strong><\/a><\/span> initiative at Ekumfi in the Central Region.<\/p>\n At the event he said another sure way of fast-tracking Ghana\u2019s prosperity is to industrialize.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need good jobs with good income but the truth must be told; unless we industrialize with the goal of adding significant value to our primary products, we cannot create the necessary numbers of high paying jobs that will enhance the living standards of the mass of our people. Raw material producing economies do not create prosperity for the masses. The way to that goal, the goal of assuring access to prosperity is value addition activities in a transformed and a diversified modern economy. In order words, industrial development of our country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
\n