The World Bank and other credible institutions have tipped Ghana to lead Africa as the fastest growing economy in 2018 with a growth rate of about 7.8 per cent as a result of increased oil and gas production.
This is good news. But the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina said: “nobody eats Gross Domestic Product (GDP)’.
“The economy is growing but it is not rising – in terms of economic transformation. This situation should inspire aggressive policy action towards promoting local industrialisation,” he stated.
Anyone who has been reading the business pages of our local newspapers over the last few years or been listening to the business programmes on the main FM stations, must be aware of the very difficult circumstances in which many of our manufacturing companies have been operating.
The African Development Bank President said Ghana and other African countries must diversify their economies, explaining that, though the continent is growing, the fundamentals to this growth are weak.
“There is too much dependency on commodities: cocoa, coffee, oil, gold, copper, cobalt, among others,” Adesina lamented.
To diversify, he said Ghana and other African nations has to industrialise, warning that, the continent cannot be industrialised without power, railways, and roads.
Africa has an infrastructure gap of $130–170 billion a year. This is a huge challenge in terms of raising finance to bridge this gap.
For African countries to experience a take-off, the economic structures have to change, he stated but said this could only be realised by promoting local manufacturing that drives value addition of major commodities like cocoa and gold.
“This could in turn boost rural economies, create jobs for the youth, and lift millions out of poverty.”
He continued: “African governments must take the lead in increasing investment in infrastructure, a major step towards economic diversification. They must also invest in human capital, by building the skills of young people.”
John Kelly
