It has been established that Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) and its sister company, Voltic injected $46 million, an equivalent of 1.1 percent of total income tax into the Ghana�s economy.
This new discovery has backed arguments that government should pay more attention to the manufacturing sector which is considered the bedrock of every country.
According to the study, which describes the results of socio-economic impact assessment of ABL on the economy of Ghana, ABL and Voltic provide high quality employment and its operations support of at least 17,600 jobs throughout the economy, equivalent to 0.2 percent of the labour force.
While Voltic generated 450 jobs and gross revenues of $37 million in 2010, ABL employed 400 workers and generated revenue of $52 million.
The results of the research was launched by the Managing Director, Greg Metcalf at a forum on the theme �The contribution of Industry to development in Ghana: The Case of ABL� organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).
Led by Dr. Rene Kim, Professor of Globalization and Trade at Hanyang University, South Korea, the study added that if the operations of the two entities are substituted with imports, the economy would suffer a loss of $22 million in value-addition and 5,100 in jobs.
The model developed for the study combined the distribution of ABL and Voltic�s revenues over its various financial stakeholders with an input-output description of the Ghanaian economy.
The results would help both the company�s management and its main stakeholders to analyze the broad socio-economic impact of their business decisions.
The report made recommendations for both ABL and the government so as to increase the company�s socio-economic impact.
Recommendations made included the need for all to recognize that ABL and Voltic contribute substantially to the Ghana�s economy and therefore business decision-making and public policies should be carefully crafted to help increase the socio-economic development of the country.
Others were the need for Ghana to maintain a business environment that encourages continued investment by the private sector and also the consideration of the possible impact of brewery expansion and an increase in local agricultural sourcing.
Commenting on the report, Dr. John Kwakye, a senior economist at the policy think tank, who applauded the research, called on the researchers to look into the health and environmental effects.
Isaac Osei, Member of Parliament (MP) for Subin and former CEO of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), for his part, urged policy makers to provide support to industry.
ABL, a subsidiary of SABMiller Plc, controls around 30 percent share of Ghana�s beer market.
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