The Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare, has called on Ghanaian businesses to move from import dependence to productive manufacturing.

She explained that agro-processing, local content development, industrial value addition, and export competitiveness should not be aspirations for tomorrow but targets for today.

Mrs. Ofosu Agyare was speaking at the 10th Ghana CEO Summit and Expo, which was on the theme "Accelerating Ghana’s Economic Transformation: Driving bold reforms through Leadership, Technology, and Industrialization for Sustainable Growth."

The meeting brought together CEOs, policymakers, and global business leaders, providing a platform for executive leadership discourse, enterprise development, and economic policy dialogue.

Mrs. Ofosu Agyare also stated that Ghana's position as host of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat gave the country a structural advantage that enterprises must position themselves to exploit.

She said that with the right standards, packaging, certification, and market intelligence, made-in-Ghana goods must stand for quality, reliability, and consistency.

The Trade Minister also raised concerns about the credibility and public standing of corporate Ghana over successive economic cycles, which she described as a troubling pattern.

She explained that when crises strike, whether a currency depreciation, a global supply shock, an energy disruption, or a pandemic, some businesses respond by raising prices sharply, citing the emergency as justification.

“That response, in many cases, is understandable. But what is not understandable is the refusal by some enterprises to reverse those prices once the underlying conditions have been resolved,” she said.

Mrs. Ofosu Agyare stated that the practice eroded the public trust in businesses, fueled social discontent, and undermined the case that a competitive self-regulatory private sector served the national interest.

“I appeal to your moral conscience as leaders. "If you raise prices because of a genuine emergency, the ethical obligation and the reputational imperative is to bring them back down when the emergency passes,” she said.

“The private sector's license to lead in this economy depends on the public believing that businesses exercise their pricing power responsibly.”

Togbe Afede XIV, the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State and Chairman of the Summit, commended the organisers for their vision and unwavering commitment to building and sustaining “this remarkable platform over the past 10 years.”

He observed that the global environment was going through massive change, both positive and negative, saying some of the negative happenings were natural, and Ghanaians were witnesses to the impact of technology and geopolitical developments, the creation of new alliances, and the strengthening and weakening of other alliances.

Togbe Afede observed that the positive developments seen in the local economy were due to bold action taken to rescue the country from a recent self-inflicted economic predicament.

He therefore charged the CEOs at the summit to seize opportunities to grow their businesses and enhance the general well-being of the people.

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Ghana businesses urge shift to manufacturing

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