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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has encouraged shopping malls and supermarkets in the country to increase the percentage of Made-in-Ghana goods and products they sell at their shops.

According to him, this will benefit more local farmers and entrepreneurs since there will be high patronage of their produce.

The President made the remarks at the official commissioning of the newly constructed $95million Kumasi City Mall on Wednesday 10 May.

Mr Akufo-Addo noted that it would be a plus if at least 20 per cent of items sold at the Kumasi City Mall in the first year were locally made.

“It is not right that our country continues to be a retailer of cheap imported goods whilst the capacity of our local producers remains weak and their products suffer low patronage. I know very well that in some of our malls and supermarkets across the country, carrots sold, for example, are imported. Some of the dressed chicken on sale have also come from Brazil. Indeed, the items originating from Ghana and from our local entrepreneurs constitute barely a paltry five per cent of goods on sale,” he bemoaned.

Nana Akufo-Addo further said: “All over the world, new enterprises such as this mall have spawned the creation of jobs and investments and triggered increased local spending. Supermarkets and many shopping malls in several parts of the world particularly in advanced economies have become magnets for production.

“It’s my hope that the Kumasi City Mall will not only be a place for the sale of imported goods but substantially also Ghanaian goods. For instance, it will be truly commendable if, by the end of the first year of its operation, at least 20 per cent of the goods that are sold here should be of Ghanaian origin and the percentage increased as the Ghanaian industrial production rapidly expands.

“I encourage shop owners and supermarkets like Shoprite to increase the proportion of Ghanaian goods sold at the shop by getting more local farmers and entrepreneurs to produce for them. We want Kumasi to be a place for work again, not just a place where people come for funeral. We want to bring jobs back to this city and restore Kumasi to its position once again of being the Garden City.”