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In This Issue...Links to the News:
March 11, 2016
Industries
asked to respond positively to incentives in the Budget
Accra, Nov. 20, GNA – The Association of Ghana Industries on
Monday asked industrialists to respond positively to the
various incentives announced in the 2007 Budget to boost
their contribution to the manufacturing sector.
Government last Thursday announced the abolition
of the Reconstruction Levy, a cut on duty of imported
raw materials to five per cent and removal of taxes on
packaging materials for drug manufacturing companies,
reduction in excise duties as well as withholding tax among
others.
Speaking at the launch of the Sixth Industrial Week
Celebration of AGI on Monday, Mr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi, the
President of AGI, said members must respond to the
government initiative through increased productivity in the
manufacturing sector, saying this was necessary to enable
the Association make more demand on government to improve
the business environment further.
He said development could not be possible without
industrialization and pledged the continuous assistance of
the AGI to assist in accelerating the country’s economic
growth.
Mr Alan Kyeremanten, Minister of Trade, Industry, Private
Sector Development and President’s Special Initiatives, who
launched the week, said growth in the manufacturing sector
must be accelerated four-fold from the current growth rate
of four per cent to 16 per cent annually to enable the
country attain the middle income status by 2015.
He said industrialization was the main driving force for
economic growth and explained why the government made such
generous concessions in the 2007 budget to enhance the
capacity of the companies to boost production.
Mr. Kyeremanten said government would continue to work with
other stakeholders to ensure that factors militating against
increased productivity in the industrial sector were
removed.
He cited the 470 million dollar allocation for resolving the
current energy crisis that had hit the country.
Similar efforts are being made in the areas of provision of
land banks, industrialised plant and machinery and promoting
of raw materials as well as research and development to give
the sector the necessary upliftment.
Mr. Asare Akuffo, Managing Director of HFC Bank, who spoke
on the influx of foreign banks in the country, said a
competitive banking industry was necessary to ensure that
banks were effective forces for financial intermediation.
He said the aggressive attitude of the new foreign banks had
made some medium sized banks to focus more on customer care.
However, Mr. Akuffo said there was no evidence to suggest
that the new foreign banks were ready to compete on price
hence the high interest rates still persisted in the
industry, adding that the improved lending rate was due more
to macro-economic stability noticed in, especially, the
falling rate of Treasury Bills and the regulatory changes by
Bank of Ghana, such as the abolition of the secondary
reserve requirements.
Despite these changes, Mr Akuffo said, high investment cost
in deploying technology, high levels of lending risks and
lack of credit information had combined to stall the
benefits of a more competitive banking environment.
This notwithstanding, he said, Banks were offering borrowing
rates below the base rate to good customers, who were ready
to share information on their businesses with their banks.
He asked the Ghanaian industrialists to seek increase equity
participation in their companies to avoid reliance solely on
banks for their capitalization.
The Industrial Week is being marked on the theme: Industrial
Growth and Challenges of Poverty Reduction.”
GNA
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