Tema-Ghana, April 27, CDA Consult – Mr. Abraham Koomson, Secretary-General of the Ghana Federation of Labour, has underlined again that developing local businesses will strengthen domestic and foreign trade, thus revitalising the economy.
It will also create jobs, while local exports will improve in both quality and quantity, easing pressure on the local currency.
Mr. Koomson maintained that no country has developed as a result of a ‘buying and selling’ policy because it destroys the local economy, adding that “no country has ever become richer by exporting raw materials without adding value to them and also having a local industry that is virtually in intensive care units.”
The GFL Secretary General was analysing the labour front at a Stakeholders Engagement Seminar hosted by the Ghana News Agency’s Tema Regional Office in Tema.
The GNA Tema Stakeholder Engagement Programme brings state and non-state entities together to discuss national concerns.
It also acts as a motivation for journalists to be recognised for their editorial contributions to national growth in general, as well as the extension and promotion of the Tema GNA as an industrial news hub.
According to Mr. Koomson, Ghanaian investors cannot create jobs without a strong manufacturing base and an industrialised economy.
“If the government truly believes that production will transform the country, then it must revive and exploit the country’s resources to boost the domestic economy,” he said.
“If there is a concerted effort to boost the growth of local industry,” he says, “we can survive on manufacturing industries.”
As a result, Mr. Koomson renewed his plea to the government to revitalise local industry in order to achieve long-term prosperity for the local economy: “Local industries are critical to achieving long-term economic recovery.”
“All developed and emerging economies have used industrialization as a key driver of modernization; Ghana cannot develop based on the importation of basic goods that can be produced locally,” he explained.
GNA Tema Regional Manager Mr. Francis Ameyibor stated that the agency was ready to deliver information on Ghana’s investment and industrialization push, as well as the country’s economic and tourism potential for national development.
