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Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah, the Minister of Trade and Industry has reiterated government’s commitment to improving the Ghanaian business climate and economy through the promotion of investment and private sector development.

He said government is moving to resolve the power problem and the lack of long-term low interest credits for businesses.

It is in this direction that government has revised the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act, and the Export Trade, Agricultural and Investment Development Fund (EDAIF) Act to help reduce the cost of doing business and avail medium to long term funding for businesses.

The Minister was addressing participants at the Ghanaian-German Economic Association’s Business Forum on the theme “The Business Outlook in Ghana”.

He said the Ministry of Trade and Industry had taken measures, including the offering of stimulus packages for selected industries such as the agro-processing and pharmaceutical industries, promotion of locally-manufactured goods and the review of tariffs to attract investors.

The Minister said the 2015 budget was developed to drive socio-economic transformation within the framework of the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda, 2014-2017 (GSGDA II), which has the medium term vision: “A stable, united, inclusive and prosperous country with opportunities for all”.

The transformation rests on strengthening the essential institutions of good governance, promoting export-led growth and improving industry by locally-processed value addition.

He said despite challenges, Ghana’s economy had maintained a commendable average annual growth rate of about 6 per cent over the past six years.

Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah expressed the hope that German businesses, especially the private sector, will partner Ghanaian businesses in the Energy, Agro-processing, transportation and aluminium industries to transform resources to consumption and capital goods.

The President of the GGEA, Mr Stephen Antwi, said the GGEA’s first event for the year was to enable the members and other entrepreneurs to network and explore business linkages.

He said 2014 was a challenging year for businesses due mainly to the energy crisis and expressed the hope that a solution would be found soon to deal with the crisis.