Gross investment programmed to reach 22 per cent of GNP in 2000

Accra (Greater Accra) 27 Jan. '99

Gross investment in the country is programmed to increase from 14 per cent of Gross National Product (GNP) in 1991 to 22.4 per cent by next year while growth rate is estimated at 10 per cent. This is part of projections under Ghana-Vision 2020, the Medium-Term Development Plan (1997-2000) released in Accra on Tuesday. The document said private investment will be the engine of growth, accounting for a greater part of investment. Private sector share of investment will rise from under 11 per cent of GNP in 1995 to 13 per cent by 2000 as against public investment which is expected to rise from 6.5 per cent in 1996 to 9.5 per cent in 2000. "In line with the objectives of the Ghana-Vision 2020 (The First Step), the focus of public investment expenditure or allocation will be to consolidate past and existing development programmes and projects with a view to strengthening their effectiveness." The document, a blue print for socio-economic development, said government would take appropriate measures to improve the implementation and co- ordination of public sector programmes and enhance viability of public sector projects. Government would also ensure that current development programmes being undertaken by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) "reflect the new national development policies and priorities requiring MDAs to review all on-going government projects in order to determine projects that need to be abandoned or hives off to the private sector and projects to be continued and realigned with objectives of Ghana Vision 2020." The document said the estimated public sector development expenditure needed to attain the objectives of the medium-term development plan is 5,800 billion cedis for the period 1996-2000 or 3,470 billion cedis in 1995 prices. This represents an increase of about 200 per cent over the expenditure of 1,147 billion cedis during the 1991-1995 period. The document said a major portion of the total public sector development expenditure is expected to be allocated to economic and social programmes with the former taking up about 50 per cent and the latter 21 per cent. Expenditure for defence, internal security, development management and general administration will account for the remaining 29 per cent. It said of the 2,929 billion cedis development expenditure allocated to the economic sector, the road and waterway sub-sector will be given the highest priority, taking 1,739 billion cedis or 30 per cent of the amount. "This expenditure is for upgrading existing roads and building new ones in all the regions, including the rural roads, and for improving rural-urban link as well as upgrading port facilities in line with making Ghana a hub or "gateway" for handling transit cargo to land-locked countries in the northern parts of West Africa and other African countries."