(L-R) Mr. Seth Tekper, Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr. Paul V. Obeng, Chairman of NDPC, Dr. Joe Abbey,  Executive Director and Economist at CEPA and Dr. Benjamin Amoah, representative of the Bank of Ghana

On the 21st of November, the Dominion University (DUC) College Business School, in partnership with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and the Africa Business Media (Publishers of Ghana Business & Finance Magazine), and with the platinum sponsorship support of Engineers & Planners, organised an impactful and economically strategic conference dubbed: "Ghana Economic Outlook and Business Strategy Conference".

The conference which was well attended by both the public and the private sector, particularly brought together the managers of the economy and the members of the GIPC's Ghana Club 100, diplomatic communities, development partners and institutions with the sole aim of keeping them abreast of developments on the economic front and having them well informed to be able to make reasonable projections in their planning for the coming year 2013.                                 

With a very purposeful theme: "Strategy For A Good Year 2013” the conference created a unique platform for the public and the private sector to engage each other in a frank and realistic jaw-jaw on challenges and solutions on the economic front.

Opening the well-attended event, the Convener of the conference, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah stated clearly that the central aim of the strategically orchestrated interaction was to "enable the multi-stakeholders in Ghana's economy to keep abreast of vital developments…" stay well-informed and be able to make reasonable projections in their planning for the coming year 2013.

The conference that was to have had the President as the special guest of honor but he was represented by no less a distinguished state official than Mr. Paul Victor Obeng, Chairman, National Development Planning Commission, who intimated the high profile gathering that the conference was highly esteemed by the President since it agreed with his desire to enhance development planning and monitoring.
"This may, perhaps, explain why he chose to delegate  me…to deputise for him on this occasion."

Mr. Obeng who was a one-time Special Adviser to the former President Jerry Rawlins, said that government was aware of the constraints that beset the private sector in their efforts to excel and beat competitions and that government,
on its part, was not going to abandon its responsibility in formulating the right policies to meet the needs of the private sector.

"Governments have tried, and continue to make serious efforts to overcome these known and over-discussed difficulties but, ironically, the gap continues to grow. The growth in the competitiveness gaps, perhaps, arises out of the fact that the positive net effect of our reform efforts has not matched the rate at which the competition itself grows. It is against this background that this government has tried to have a more comprehensive approach to the resolution of the various constraints such that we can perform ahead of the competition and, thereafter, become current and match others on a sustainable basis."

Speaking for the private sector, Dr. Ishmael Yamson said the sector expected a sustainable economy devoid of surprises and adhoc measures in the year 2013. It would want to see a stable economy.

"We don't want to be caught in the middle of a crisis when we haven't been well informed about it," he said. "What we need to see in 2013 was a sustainable economy with a stable macro environment." He said Ghana was part of the community of countries faced with all sorts of economic challenges so there would be external developments that would affect the country, which is the more reason why the country should prepare itself so that when such shocks do occur the
response should be decisive and of good quality.

Again, the private sector needs good infrastructure to be able to make the desired impact and to forestall the losses in revenues being incurred by the state. Inadequate infrastructure is hampering the growth of Ghana's private sector. Even though the Ghanaian economy is thriving, the constraints or challenges, including lack of information on external markets, stultifies the maximal realisation of the full potentials of the sector.

Also speaking on energy and its impact on the private sector, the GIPC Chairman, Mr. Ishmael Yamson, expressed fears over the likelihood of an extension of the ongoing electricity load shedding program embarked upon by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) since four months ago.

He appealed to stakeholders and policymakers to recognise the fact that energy is key, indeed, so key to the development of the private sector that unless it is gotten right, growth should not be expected in that sector.

Energy is a basic requirement for social, economic and, more importantly, industrial development of the country thus it is not surprising that poor power supply is the top most challenge facing business operators in the private sector. For the private sector to thrive, state institutions need to be strengthened to create the enabling environment to support them and offer them some levels of protection. Regular power outages place a burden on industry, especially the manufacturing sector, as costs of production turn to increase tremendously.

Speaking on behalf of government, the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Seth Tekper said government was able to surmount a number of challenges to achieve the accelerated and sustainable growth being witnessed.

Some of the challenges included the following;

• A high budget deficit in early 2009 which formed the basis for the austerity budget in March of the same year, three
  months ahead of an IMF program. The austerity plan came
  with the promise to return the country to sustainable economic
  growth, a promise that was kept and delivered by the end of
  2010 before the onset of oil production.

• The implementation of the new pay policy - Single Spine
  Salary structure (SSSS) came with a high cost with personal
  emoluments often crowding out some expenditures on capital
  as well as goods and services. The SSSS was to rationalise
  public sector remuneration and boost productivity.

• There were large numbers of unfunded and uncompleted
  projects which crippled businesses of suppliers and contractors
  spilling over to non-performing loans which in turn threatened
  the stability of banks.

• Ghana's insatiable appetite for imported consumer items
  coupled with the removal of tariffs on imports of basic food
  items such as rice continues to put pressure on the country's
  balance of payment (BOP), exchange rate and reserves.

• Both internal and external factors affecting the economy
  precipitated the rapid depreciation of the cedi against major
  currencies in the first half of 2012.

The Deputy Minister assured the business community that the government has firm strategies for a good year in 2013, with sustainable job creation as the main agenda.

He stated that the following projects are to be fully funded and derived from the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA):

• The Western Corridor project which involves the rehabilitation
  of the Western Railway line, the expansion of the Takoradi
  Harbor, a proposed Sekondi Industrial Estate, the gas pipeline,
  processing plant and road projects.

• The Eastern Corridor integrated projects comprising the
  Volta Lake multi-modal transportation project that links Tema
  by road or rail and river to Akosombo, Buipe, and other
  minor ports along the Volta.

• The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA)
  involving a mix of agricultural, industrial, service and social
  infrastructure components

• The gas pipeline project

According to Mr. Terpker, the outlined projects constitute the largest integrated and fully funded investment public infrastructure since the Nkrumah era. In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) Dr. Joe Abbey indicated that it was important to know how the economy fared in 2012 before looking into the future.

He recalled the currency depreciation crisis that had adversely affected the economy saying that it was due to tremendous pressures of aggregate demand.

In election years, it is common to find credit to the private sector growing typically 30-40 per cent and sadly enough such credit is directed at the large enterprises to the disadvantage of the more important indigenous small enterprises.

Small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are seen as highly risky by the banking system and reasons such as poor credit history and low performance in terms of management of their accounts. The solution does not lie in giving directives to banks, rather there is the need to work harder and ensure that the SMEs present a better picture to finance houses about risk perception and risk management.

CEPA does not think that the much described, much touted public sector wage bill will be solved unless the SMEs are made to play the expected roles- generate jobs, the boss of the economic think-Tank averred.

In all, it was an event that served both the public and the private sectors a good purpose for better understanding of the nation's current economic situation and the possible the intentions and possible solutions being proffered by the managers of the
economy. It gave the government the right platform to communicate its intentions to pursue credible public debt policies to balance the infrastructure development with debt sustainability; and over time, restore the balance among the three main components of the annual budget and medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) - personal emoluments, goods and services and capital or development expenditure.

And the private sector found attentive ears to listen to their demand for conducive environment devoid of power failures and infrastructure shortfall as all parties look forward to a 2013 version that would have them comparing notes on how promises and target have been met or failed.