Senior Minister concerned about high levels of imports

Senior Minister concerned about high levels of imports

Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, has raised concerns about the high levels of importation of goods into the country.

In 2018, a total of USD1.35 billion was spent on the importation of rice into Ghana.

Currently, flowers are being imported into the country thrice a week, a situation the Senior Minister described as absurd and unacceptable.

Addressing a gathering on behalf of President Nana Akufo-Addo at the opening of the National Festival of Arts and Culture in Koforidua, Mr. Osafo Maafo called on Ghanaians to support government to end the trend.

“When I was the Minister of Finance, Ghana spent USD300 million on rice and we were complaining, the late Major Courage Quashigah was the Minister of Agriculture and he promised to reduce it to zero after 4 years but it was never achieved. Indeed, after 4 years, our rice import bill went from USD300 million to USD700 million”.

“Last year, 2018, Ghana spent USD1.35 billion on the importation of rice, can you imagine– with the type of land we have, even in the forest areas the lowlands can grow rice to feed ourselves. As you go up to the north and fly over to Tamale you will see greenery flatlands that can produce rice for West Africa and we spent USD1.35 billion of our scarce foreign exchange resources to import rice”.

“I have not added the importation of chicken and even fruits and flowers, Ghana is now airlifting flowers from South Africa to Kotoka about 3 times a week. Is it right, can we continue this way? Certainly not, because we have all the gifts of riches and we need the leadership that will take us from this dependency that, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is providing and we should have all hands on deck to go on the Ghana Beyond Aid mindset”.

The Senior Minister urged Ghanaians to help move the Ghanaian economy from an import-dependent one to export-driven.

“Let us at least feed ourselves, let’s export enough, earn enough to put our roads right. Everybody is complaining about bad roads network and it is a fact but how do you repair your roads, should we be going out asking for loans to do all our roads or we should be earning revenue from our resources to repair our roads”.

“The second is the alternative, we must out of our own resources earn enough to put our roads right, fix our road network, to create employment for ourselves and even our culture when properly mounted we can earn enough to fix our roads,” he added.

Source: CNR