GOVT WILL RESERVE KEY AREAS IN OIL INDUSTRY FOR GHANAIANS (PAGE 31, NOV 13)

Key strategic areas in the energy and the emerging oil industry will be reserved solely for Ghanaians, President John Evans Atta Mills has indicated.
Currently, a value chain analysis of the oil sector is underway to enable the government to take a firm decision on the areas that will be reserved for Ghanaians and the skills and competencies which will be required for them to play a crucial role in the energy and oil industry.
This was contained in a speech read on behalf of President Mills by the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, at the 49th annual general meeting and 50th anniversary celebration of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) in Accra on Wednesday.
President Mills said plans were also underway to establish a task force to assess what needed to be done to improve the competence and skills of Ghanaians to fill certain key positions.
The President said the government was committed to ridding the country of unwholesome and counterfeit goods and blocking all illicit trade in the country, since unwholesome and counterfeit goods impacted negatively on the health of the people that could lead to the loss of employment and also affect the competitiveness of enterprises.
He said the government would further collaborate with the GEA and other business associations to work with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and other development partners to ensure that the sector was given the necessary managerial and business skills and advisory support for the realisation of its full potential.
On energy, the President said the government recognised the critical role of energy in industrial growth and development, stressing, “We are aware of the challenges we have had with the supply of crude oil but we wish to assure you of our commitment to the regular supply of oil to enable industry to derive the required benefit for increased productivity.”
The President said the challenges that oil producing countries, especially developing ones, faced were very familiar but gave the assurance that Ghana’s oil revenue would be used for the benefit of all Ghanaians.
President Mills said the government was aware of the important advocacy role the GEA was playing in pushing for a national productivity movement to augment the competitiveness of Ghana to achieve a middle-income status and also improve the quality of life of the people.
“I, therefore, charged the ministries of Finance and Economic Planning and Employment and Social Welfare to adequately resource the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) to collaborate with the social partners in developing productivity benchmarks for all sectors of the national economy and begin an accelerated national campaign to raise awareness of Ghanaians on productivity,” he stressed.
For his part, the President of the GEA, Mr Charles Cofie, urged the government to reduce the budget deficit to a range between six and eight per cent over a three-year period, since stabilising the economy would require a long-term approach.
The effort to reduce the budget deficit, he said, should involve a review of the current strategies for managing the national economy and modify them to reflect global realities of the time.
Mr Cofie said in order to give impetus to the private sector as the engine of growth, SME financing needed to be looked at, since SMEs contributed 85 per cent of manufacturing employment and accounted for 92 per cent of Ghanaian businesses.
He said the banking system, which dominated the financial sector, was not adequately responding to SME financing because of the risk associated with the sector.
He called on the government to come up with creative innovations and management training to assist SMEs to produce credible records and financial statements.