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Vice President John Dramani Mahama, on Wednesday pledged government's commitment to partner organised labour towards increased productivity in all sectors of the economy. "This is a sure way to improve the living standards of the people in fulfilment of government's agenda on better Ghana," he said. Vice President Mahama was speaking at the 49th Annual General Meeting of Ghana Employers Association (GEA) that was on the theme: "The Role of GEA in Ghana's Transformation", in Accra. It coincided with the 50th anniversary celebration of GEA in Accra. Vice President Mahama asked Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning and Employment and Social Welfare to adequately resource the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) to collaborate with social partners in developing productivity benchmarks for all sectors of the economy. He noted that such efforts engender an accelerated national campaign to raise the awareness of Ghanaians on productivity. Vice President Mahama commended GEA on the anniversary and its invaluable contribution to industrial peace and harmony, human resource development and enterprise growth over the years. He acknowledged the importance advocacy role GEA was playing to improve national productivity and augment Ghana's competitiveness to achieve middle income status and improve the living standards of the people. Vice President Mahama expressed government's commitment to rid the country of unwholesome goods and block all illicit trade to negate its negative impact on the people's health. He said government would work closely with the Business Coalition Against Counterfeit and Illicit trade led by the GEA and review the legal framework for counterfeit and illicit trade to ensure the strengthening of border patrols to reduce the influx of unaccustomed goods into the country. On the oil sector, Vice President Mahama said government had begun an on-going value chain analysis and would decide the key strategic areas reserved solely for Ghanaians either off-stream or downstream. He urged GEA to support government to form a taskforce that would assess the required skills for Ghanaians in the sector. Vice President Mahama acknowledged the challenge of government to supply crude oil regularly to enable industry derive the required benefits for increased productivity. He said although the micro, small and medium enterprises generated about 90 per cent of employment in the economy, its potential had still not been realised to create the needed employment. "Government would collaborate with GEA and other stakeholders to work with the Ministry of Trade and Industry to ensure the sector is given the necessary managerial, business skills and advisory support to ensure the realisation of their full business potentials, " Vice President Mahama said. He said government had also instituted prudent fiscal measures to deal with the macroeconomic challenges such as inflation, adding "it is government's desire to achieve a year end budget inflation target of 14.5". Vice President Mahama urged GEA to assist government and other stakeholders to ensure the smooth take-off and implementation of the new pension scheme in January next year. Mr Stephen Amaonor Kwao, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare appealed to GEA to educate members to refrain from activities that would cause tension on the labour front. Mr Charles Cofie, President of GEA, said the current recession as a result of the global economic crisis had had a severe impact on consumer disposal incomes, consumption, confidence and production cost of businesses in Ghana due to rising inputs cost and reduction in sales volumes, revenues and profits. In addition, he noted that the rise in inflation and interest rates had also adversely affected the profits of business enterprises, and further compounded by a currency that depreciated substantially in the first half of the year. Mr Cofie noted that the recession had proved that the Ghanaian economy had structural problems and import dependent, and most local manufacturing companies continued to import a significant proportion of their raw materials. "We have been hit with the double burden of how to recover the exchange rate depreciation associated with our imported materials at the same time as foreign demand for our exports is reduced or suspended. Foreign exchange losses are probably the biggest factor explaining negative gross profit variance this year," he said. Mr Cofie urged government to ensure that the deficit was brought down at a much slower rate to about six to eight per cent within the next three years. He said stabilising the economy would require a long term approach involving a review of current strategies for managing and modifying the economy to reflect global realities. Mr Cofie reiterated GEA's call on government to in the short term support people in the business sector by maintaining demand. He launched the GEA Manufacturing Sectoral Remuneration Survey designed to provide employers with the key to design competitive pay packages in the various sectors of the economy. Mr Cofie announced the introduction of Chief Executives breakfast seminar to be held quarterly, to provide the platform for corporate executives to meet and discuss critical topical issues in a relatively informal setting and synergize ideas and strategies that would help them to overcome challenges. Awards were presented to individuals and institutions for their contributions to the labour front.