PSI's garment hit
America's market this month
Speaking at a public lecture in
He said the primary concern of the private sector was the high cost of doing business in the country due to high cost of credit, high inflation rate and government's excessive borrowing from the banking sector that crowds out the sector.
The
Asiedu, who spoke on: "
This would be done through the formulation and harmonization of policies to ensure inter-sectoral collaboration in the implementation of trade and industrial policies both at the national and international levels.
The Deputy Minister said to guarantee success of the policies, government was following a two-pronged approach of export-led industrialization and a comprehensive import substitution programme with the aim to cutting down on all non-petroleum government imports by 70 per cent and all processed food and agricultural products by 50 per cent in order to revitalize the trade and industry sectors.
Other areas of focus were to negotiate and secure improved market access for the country's exports and to create a self-sustaining export sector that placed emphasis on value addition.
Asiedu expressed the hope that through the various initiatives of the President, the country would be able to utilize market access opportunities, which were hitherto unexploited.
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Total shares traded last Friday ended higher at 626,200 shares. The GSE-All Share Index went up by 8.95 points to fix at 2,136.72 points from the 2,127.77 points registered on Friday. Market capitalization edged up slightly closing trading at ¢8,778.81bn. It ended at ¢8,757.03bn from a total of 2,729.93 issued shares.
The change in the year to date was 53.44 per cent. On the broader market two equities appreciated with no decliners. Produce Buying Company (ABL) made the day with a gain of ¢44 to close at ¢495 while Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) made ¢4 to end at ¢460.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 460 +4
AGC 28,600
ALW 4,000
BAT 1,913
CFAO 73
CPC 630
EIC 6,000
FML 2,507
GBL 552
GCB 6,302
GGL 3,001
HFC 2,600
MGL 258
MLC 466
MOGL 21,000
PAF 750
PBC 495 +44
PZ 2,057
SCB 48,400
SPPC 390
SSB 7,304
SWL 285
TBL 6,000
UNIL 7,305
CMLT 460
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Ho (Volta Region)
Goh was speaking at a course organised by the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) in collaboration with the Ho District Assembly for 40 Small-Scale Entrepreneurs in Export Marketing,
He said the programme, which is in line with government policy that each district facilitates the establishment of at least three industries, fruits and tomatoes processing and oil extraction factories would be set up.
Goh called for the cultivation of plantation of fruits including mangoes, oranges and papaw to feed the factories. He said the district needed active support of the private sector to achieve its objective.
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PSI's
garment hit
The garment and textile initiative is expected to bring in about three billion dollars within a period of four years of operation. This came to light on Monday when Hajia Alima Mahama, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and President's Initiative visited the factory to get acquainted with the production process.
Nana Tweneboa-Boateng, Coordinator of the Garment and Textile segment, who conducted the Deputy Minister round, said the processing time, quality consciousness, and the need to expand or set up more factories were crucial to meet the international competitive market.
He said currently the
Nana Tweneboa-Boateng said that
currently the factory was training national service personnel with Higher
National Diploma (HNDs) for supervisory and
managerial positions. He said the government had injected huge capital into the
project, adding, "preparations are underway to
set up some of the factories in
Deputy Minister said the training programme for the trainees would equip them and create the ready pool of personnel not only for the factory but also for private investors, who might want to venture into garment and textile production.
Hajia Mahama urged the trainees, especially the service personnel to take advantage of the situation after their training to form joint partnerships and set up businesses on their own instead of waiting to be provided with employment. She expressed satisfaction with the progress of the initiative so far and said it was a clear indication that the PSI was on course.
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"Being instruments of neo-liberal paradigm, AGOA and
the Cotonou Agreement are not different from the WTO
system in the way that they seek to coerce African countries into total trade
and financial liberalization," Michael Besha,
Assistant Secretary-General of the Organization of African Trade Unions Unity
(OATUU), said.
Besha was speaking at the opening of a three-day workshop for
trade union leaders in the sub-region, aimed at building a consensus on some
multilateral trade agreements that have been perceived to be inimical to
developing economies.
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Friedrich Ebert
Foundation (FES) are organizing the workshop in
Besha said: "The unequal and unbalanced character of
international economic relations, the undemocratic nature of the multilateral
trading system...and the problem of capacity on the part of African governments
to negotiate on equal footing...present daunting challenges to Africa which
OATUU must address."
He said among the major challenges facing trade unions in
According to him, the elements of the international order
have combined to trap the economies of African countries. These elements
consist of unsound macro-economic policies imposed through structural
adjustment conditions by the World Bank and the IMF.
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