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MSME Project reaches Upper West
WA, April 8, Ghanadot/GNA - The Micro
Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Project that has been
initiated by the Government to provide essential financing
and technical support to facilitate the development of these
enterprises throughout the country has been launched at Wa.
Under the project, the Government of Ghana, in collaboration
with the International Development Association (IDA) and the
International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other
development partners are providing a total of 118.9 United
States dollars to support the development of the MSME
sector.
Mr. George Hikah Benson, Upper West Regional Minister
launched the project on Tuesday on behalf of Mrs. Gifty
Ohene-Konadu, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry, Private
Sector Development and Presidential Special Initiatives.
He noted that, despite the importance of MSME to the
economic development of the nation, these organizations were
faced with several challenges that included inadequate
access to finance, lack of markets and poor market
information, inadequate infrastructure, obsolete technology,
weak managerial capacity, low productivity and regulatory
bottlenecks.
Mr Benson urged all agencies and development partners that
were supporting MSME to avoid duplicating their efforts by
engaging in dialogue and working closely to create a more
harmonized support systems for these enterprises.
He charged MSME in the region to aggressively pursue and
avail themselves of the opportunities being offered by the
government under the project and other interventions, which
were all aimed at developing a vibrant and productive MSME
sector in the country.
Mr Welbeck Abra-Appiah, a Director of the Project said the
Project would generate growth in the national economy and
lower poverty levels by increasing the competitiveness and
employment levels of micro, small and medium enterprises in
the Ghanaian economy.
He said out of 118.9 million US dollars that had been
earmarked for the five-year project, 40 million US dollars
would be disbursed as loans to qualified MSME, while the
rest would be spent on technical support and other knowledge
acquisition activities.
GNA
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