Delivering the State Of Nation Address at the floor of parliament, president Nana Akufo-Addo said his government is introducing a program call Ghana CARES ‘Obaatampa’ programme to transform the Ghanaian economy.
Addressing the house today Tuesday 9th March, 2021, president Nana Akuffo Addo said “Mr. Speaker, the pandemic has exposed the need to expedite the process of moving Ghana to a situation beyond aid. That is why the Government has developed and is currently implementing the one hundred-billion-cedi (GH¢100 billion) Ghana CARES ‘Obaatampa’ Programme to transform, revitalise and modernise our economy, and return it to high and sustained growth for the next three years”.
He added that the key “projects under the CARES Programme include:
a) supporting commercial farming and attracting educated youth into commercial farming;
b) building the country’s light manufacturing sector;
c) developing engineering/machine tools and ICT/digital economy industries;
d) fast tracking digitalisation;
e) developing Ghana’s housing & construction industry;
f) establishing Ghana as a Regional Hub;
g) reviewing and optimising the implementation of Government flagships and key programmes; and
h) creating jobs for young people, and expanding opportunities for the vulnerable in society, including persons with disabilities”.
Concluding on what the programme entails, he said under the programme there will be an establishment of a “National Development Bank, under the Ghana CARES programme, is expected to provide support to businesses in Ghana. Government expects economic activity, which has already picked up, to do so even further, following the ongoing vaccination exercise, and the easing of restrictions put in place to curb the effects of the disease”.
“We expect GDP growth to rebound strongly this year to nearly five percent (5%), above the IMF’s 2021 January projection of 3.2% growth for Sub-Saharan Africa for 2021”, he said.
Filed By : Agaatorne Douglas Asaah / awakenewsroom.com
