Dr Priscilla Twumasi Baffour, an economics lecturer at the University of Ghana, has raised concerns on the need for Ghanaian people to patronize and consume local products to boost the local economy.
The economics lecturer said this at the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana’s (NETRIGHT) National Policy Dialogue on the theme: ‘Women’s Livelihood, COVID-19 and the Ghanaian Economy’ which sought to make inputs into policy formulation with regards to improving women’s livelihood post-COVID-19.
Speaking at the policy dialogue, Dr Baffour said COVID-19 has taught the country a lesson in improving local production and consumption, adding that “this is the only way to make the economy resilient against unintended shocks like the pandemic”.
Agriculture over the years has not been a major component of economic growth because it has not been mechanized, though it has a large number of the population in practice, Dr Baffour exclaimed, noting that it is important for the government to diversify the economy by investing in the agriculture value chain, to create jobs, and facilitate economic growth.
“Our agriculture sector is not making the kind of inroads it should make. The sector needs to be industrialized, where produce in their raw forms will be processed into finished products to feed the local economy,” she said.
In growing the economy post COVID-19, Dr Baffour stated that policy makers need to improve domestic revenue mobilization by enlarging the tax base and ensuring compliance. She explained that the informal sector is an area where tax mobilization is low, thus, the government needs to ‘cash in’ on the sector to undertake post COVID-19 programmes. Dr Baffour stressed that these measures if adopted, would help curb the downward trend of Gross Domestic Product as well as make the country economically resilient in this trying times.
“Government must rationalize the public sector to avoid waste in the sector,” she said.
While addressing participants at the dialogue, the Programme Manager of NETRIGHT, Madam Patricia Blankson Akakpo said the policy dialogue was intended to make inputs into policy making on issues that affect women and the vulnerable. She further explained that the policy dialogue aimed at providing data, evidence, and recommendations for policy makers on addressing the challenges faced by women and vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Having realized that women were heavily hit by the pandemic, majority of them who lost their jobs and incomes in the formal and informal sectors of the economy, the Programme Manager said it is also important to develop action-oriented recommendations that support gender-responsive implementation of COVID-19 interventions.
“For most women in Ghana, the pandemic meant no job, no unemployment benefits or other social safety nets. For many, aside losing income, unpaid care work burden has increased,” Madam Akakpo said.
“We will interrogate the short falls of COVID-19 and its implications on women’s livelihoods, and the economy to equip policy makers and other key stakeholders with evidence to drive gender,” she added.
