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ACCRA, Africa, Anderson, Economic growth, ghana, Government, Millennium Development Goal, Northern Ghana, Private sector, Resident Representative, Sustainable development, United States, United States Agency for International Development
Reflex Eco Group – Ghana News
Cephas Larbi (Local journalist)
Cheryl Anderson, former Country Director, United State Agency for International Development-Ghana says Ghana is capable of achieving a major economic transformation and become supplier of goods and services to the sub region.
According to her Ghana has a great potential and opportunity to be a supplier to the sub regions if right measures are put in place.
Ms Anderson who made this known during an encounter with the media in Accra said Ghana’s economic progress over the last 20 years has been laudable, adding economic growth is averaging more than 6 percent each year over the past decade and is expected to continue growing at a rapid pace in the coming years.
He said the growth has resulted in a reduction in poverty rates from 52 percent to 28 percent over the past 10 years and puts Ghana on track to reach the first Millennium Development Goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015.
However she said despite the fact that Ghana has attained a middle-income status, high cost of borrowing, unreliable supply of erratic power and high transaction costs in land markets continue to be key constraints to broad base economic growth.
This Ms Anderson said should be resolved in order for the nation to emerge as a true middle-income country.
She urged government to create the right environment for the private sector to be able to thrive, stating that the creation of the environment should not favor the big companies alone but small once too.
Ms Anderson said the private sector needs to be given the opportunity to play its role in driving the economy in order to create more jobs and feed the country.
She said the Agriculture sector is the largest source of employment in Ghana and the sector’s consistent growth, led by the government, has been a major driver of poverty reduction.
However, Ms Anderson said much of the recent growth has been driven by land expansion rather than improved productivity and gains have been concentrated primarily in Southern regions of Ghana, while Northern Ghana has significantly higher levels of under-nutrition and poverty.
Ms Anderson urged government to extend support to the north to ensure that the region also experience growth just like the South.
She said USAID in consultation with government has developed Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) as a way to promote broad-based and sustainable growth that will enable Ghana to consolidate its middle-income status.
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