President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that GHC50 million in assistance has been pumped into various pharmaceutical companies in the country.

This is to boost the growing local pharmaceutical industry, he said.

President Mahama made this known on Sunday, October 18 when he met a cross-section of business tycoons in the Ashanti Region capital of Kumasi as part of his ‘Changing Lives Tour’.

President Mahama made clear government’s intention to assist private enterprises to grow, saying it is the only way to sustain the Ghanaian economy.

“Until we diversify the legs of the economy, we will continue to be import-dependent and the forex value will be a matter that we will be checking every day,” he said.

“But if we become a country that is export-led with reduction in imports, we will not think about looking at the forex every day because the Cedi will be stable.”

Smart Dumsor businesses

President Mahama advised the captains of businesses not to shudder in going into areas within the power sector.

“Cables must be produced here, transformers must be produced here, meters must be produced here because our Ghanaian businessmen can set up industries to produce those things…why do we have to go and bring cables from China and they come and explode every day and create problems.”