Ghana's Economy Will Remain Poor Without ICT- Pianim

Renowned Ghanaian economist Kwame Pianim has warned that Ghana will continue to grow poorer if businesses and governments fail to become technology intensive and ICT empowered.

According to him government must encourage the intense use of technology to promote development and economic growth.

Kwame Pianim who is a key advocate of the technology drive has said that both government and businesses will benefit from the technology boom which has transformed other economies in the west and Asia as well as improve the lives of the citizens.

He was speaking at a recent press soiree organized by E-Transact on the theme �E-Payment as a Vehicle for Economic Development.� He opined that it is not surprising that the biggest global enterprise in terms of value is Apple and not Exxon mobile, stressing, "it is how the world has become technology intensive".

He stated, "if you are an economy like Ghana and you do not become technology intensive and ICT empowered, you will be pushed increasingly to the periphery of global growth and in terms of increasing standards of living, you will continue to remain poor.

"But we can leapfrog by catching up onto technology development and be able to surpass the stages of manufacturing and all that the other developments are going through."

The renowned economist said, recent studies in economic development suggest that GDP growth in a country is closely related with development of infrastructure; quoting the Waverman study which suggests that a 10% increase in public mobile penetration can lead to 0.59% increase in GDP in a typical developing economy.

He however added that economic growth through development can only be achieved with the right infrastructure.

"If you are talking about ICT, you need a broadband, a network and you have to have inter-connectivity. So it means that our telephone operators have to become efficient. And if I need money from the ATM, it means that the ATM has to be properly maintained; this means that electricity has to be stable".

Source: citifmonline.com