Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyeremanten has commended government’s efforts in pursuing the establishment of some 168 new companies in addition to the 64 existing companies.
Via mobilization of funds from various financial institutions, he revealed that these companies are at various stages of implementation and completion.
“So, projects that are currently operational we have 76, projects under construction we have 107, and then we have projects that are ready to commence production, which they’ve been able to mobilize the funding. So, we have 13 projects which are in the pipeline with our financial institutions going through their credit appraisal system.
“Contrary to what the negative propaganda seem to be suggesting, thinking that this is all about existing companies. The breakdown is 64 companies are existing companies which represents 28%, of the total, and then the new companies constitute 72%, so 168 out of the 232 1D1F companies are brand new”.
Job creation which is the bedrock for any bustling economy was one of the key repercussions of the 1D1F projects implemented by government.
With this, the Trade Minister said, these projects have been adequately distributed in various regional and district enclaves including the newly created regions.
“The bottom line is the impact of the 1D1F which is equally important. So, the 118,811 direct jobs which have been created by only the 76 existing companies, and the additional direct jobs which will be created out of these projects under construction is 38, 532”.
Apart from the indirect jobs, he noted that “the beauty of industrialization is that many other small businesses that would emerge to feed into these factories, we haven’t even counted those ones, and so you have 247, 383 additional indirect jobs that will be coming out of the over 100 projects under construction”.
“The money that government has invested is used to leverage liquidity or additional funds from the bank and through that leveraging effort, we’ve been able to leverage GHC 2.3 billion from existing banks in Ghana which otherwise would have been very difficult”.
As part of government’s effort to create an enabling economic climate for these businesses, Mr. Kyeremanten outlined some strategic tax rebates the Akufo-Addo led administration has championed.
“The government has approved and which has been endorsed by parliament a full range of tax incentives to support 1D1F companies. So, if you’re a 1D1F company, whether you’re an existing company that is seeking to expand or a new company, you bring in all your equipment, plant and machinery duty-free. And ask those people in business that is a significant contribution for the profitability of any company.
“Because we are interested in supporting you as a business, entity to succeed, we also added another incentive which is you’re entitled to a tax holiday for five years which will allow you to be able to grow. And then also there’s technical assistance that is provided to the company right from the beginning and beyond that because you are located in a rural community, government also will help you in terms of the extension of infrastructure facilities to the project sites, energy, water and access roads”.
Coming to the fore of his speech was also the “Made in Ghana goods” initiative which has been synchronized with the 1D1F to ensure fluid transactions among stakeholders.
“Apart from that, government has introduced a new policy that as long as government is using its own resources through the budget we should support made in Ghana goods, particularly those ones that are produced under the 1D1F project. It means that if any ministry, department or agency of government is seeking to procure any commodity, your first priority must be to establish whether there’s a 1D1F company or any local company that is producing that”.
