Gov't building stronger financial institutions - Prez Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama on Friday said the home-grown fiscal policies will help government to establish and maintain strong financial reforms to help grow the economy.


He said although government has ended preliminary discussions with International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the way forward for Ghana's economy, subsequent discussions with the international body would help government to reform current institutions for the better.


"The institutional reforms, which will also focus on financial management, will help in job creation and the establishment of more social interventions that will make Ghanaians comfortable in the coming years.

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President Mahama made this known when he delivered an address at a financial community meeting with business partners in Boston Massachusetts as part of his four-day official visit to the State after attending the 69th UN General-Assembly meeting in New York City.


The partners were made up of foreign businesses that are interested in investing in Africa.
He said the engagement of the IMF is not solely for financial support but a partnership that would whip up the enthusiasm of Ghana to adopt fresh and workable economic policies to place the country as a full-fledged middle income nation in the coming years.


He said Ghana will spend a chunk of its earnings on agriculture to reduce the importation of rice, tomatoes, cooking oil, sugar and other major commodities that the country have comparative advantage in and yet import massively annually.


Coupled with that, President Mahama also promised to establish a gold refinery in Ghana and scale up cocoa processing and to reduce the exportation of raw materials through value addition to other international markets that are not fetching much revenue for the country.


Such processing and value addition, he added would also create jobs for the citizenry and subsequently reduce the drift of Ghanaians to other countries for non-existent jobs.


President Mahama said under the economic reforms, government would empower the private sector to venture into non-traditional exports like flowers and vegetables, which have ready markets in Europe, considering Ghana's proximity to these countries.


On the full utilisation of the Volta Aluminum Company, President Mahama said it is currently working at a reduced rate port line and called for partnerships that would reinvigorate the corporate entity to harness its fullest potential by operating with all the five port lines to create more jobs and prosperity.

He said the current state of 11 per cent intra-African trade is woefully negligible and called for an integration that would speed up trade within the continent and its partners in other continents.


He attributed the poor intra-African trade to lingual differences as most of the West African states are divided on the English and French lines with a few others speaking Portuguese.


That notwithstanding, President Mahama promised to continue using available platforms to create a conducive environment that could subsequently step up trade among various countries in the continent.