The government will by next month unveil an insurance scheme for players in the creative arts industry, as part of interventions against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mrs. Barbara Oteng Gyasi, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, announced this on Wednesday when she took her turn at the Meet-the-Press encounter.
She said the insurance scheme is expected to take off in January 2021 and the government would pay the premium for the first year.
The Minister said about 4,000 creative arts practitioners, especially the critical players like the musicians and filmmakers would enjoy the package.
The government is currently working with an insurance company to firm-up modalities for the beneficiaries and how much it would cost the government to roll out the scheme, Mrs. Oteng Gyasi said.
The establishment of the insurance scheme formed part of the government's intervention to ameliorate the suffering of creative arts practitioners adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mrs Oteng Gyasi said given the risks faced by creative arts practitioners in their work, government took the decision to support them so that they would receive financial support in the event of any injuries or adversity.
Mrs Oteng Gyasi said government had approved US$1.4 million for disbursement to 15 Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) within the tourism value chain under the Ghana Tourism Development Project.
She said the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) was also providing financial support to SMEs adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Sector Minister said government had laid the Creative Arts Bill before Parliament and it was expected to be passed into law by the end of the year when Parliament resumes after the December 7, polls.
She said the Bill when passed into law, would help establish a Creative Arts Fund to support creative arts practitioners.
She said the tourism industry is rank fourth in terms of contributions to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and was US$3.3 billion last year.
This year, she said, the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the number of tourist arrivals in the country but the industry would rake-in about US$1.179 billion by the end of 2020.
Source: GNA
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