The Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Mr Charles Adu-Boahen, has urged stakeholders to support the government’s revenue drive to accelerate the country’s development.

He said the 2022 budget was drawn to speed up economic development post-COVID-19 and needed the support of stakeholders to achieve the revenue goals.

Mr Adu-Boahen, who was speaking at the 10th AGI Ghana Industry and Quality Awards, said the pandemic had destroyed livelihoods and only the commitment for sacrifices for the nation would help reverse the consequences, mitigate the impact and put the economy back on track.

“We should all support tax measures contained in the 2022 budget such as the E-levy and see it as an opportunity to share the burden and do our part for the country so that we can be proud of what we have created as a nation.

“We want to use the proceeds of this levy to support the youth; we have a young population that need jobs which are not available currently and so the funds to be collected is to address the huge problem of unemployment,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AGI, Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah, said the AGI’s advocacy on the much-talked-about benchmark value reduction policy was successful as it was contrary to the country’s industrial transformation agenda.

He said the lessons drawn from the pandemic should guide the country to quickly develop its local supply chains.

“There is no way we can develop our supply chains if we continue to promote policies that make imports cheaper,” he said.
Dr Yaw Adu Gyamfi, outgoing president of the association, said AGI had continuously engaged the government on several interventions to create an enabling environment to support business growth.

He said the challenges such as the high cost of electricity, the straight levy and access to credit remained major barriers to industrialization.

“We, therefore, appreciate the government’s effort towards establishing the new development bank to tackle the issue of long-term financing for industry and agriculture,” he added.

About 32 awards were given to companies, which have excelled in the their various areas of operations during the pandemic.
The award recipients include Wilmar Africa Ltd, Olam Ghana Ltd, Nelplast Eco. Ltd, Tex Styles Ghana Ltd and Amponsah Efah Pharmaceuticals.

They were presented with certificates of honour and plaques.

The awards ceremony was held on the theme: “Repositioning Ghanaian Industries to leverage the AfCFTA.”