Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says his administration will pay particular attention to building a vibrant small-scale and medium enterprise (SME) ecosystem if elected President in the 2024 elections.
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Building a robust SME space, he said, was the stimulus required for sustainable economic growth, job and wealth creation.
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The Vice President, in a media interaction, in Accra, said the Government believed the private sector remained the engine of growth of Ghana’s economy.
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The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) promises to set up an SME Bank, if retained in the December 07 General Election, according to the Party’s manifesto.
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The idea is to boost the funding base for SME activities, encouraging business start-ups and advancing innovative ideas.
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It is estimated that SMEs account for some 92 percent of existing companies, 85 percent of manufacturing jobs and 70 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
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Against this background, the Government recently launched an enterprising policy initiative to underpin private sector growth.
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Dubbed, SME Growth and Opportunity Programme, the GHS8.2 billion project provides the platform for sustainable capacity-building, technical support, access to finance and developing innovative ideas to strengthen the private sector.
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It is expected that the project will contribute to building a future economy shaped by enterprise and innovation, where the people could witness their ideas becoming a reality.
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Vice President Dr Bawumia indicated that the Government had supported some 444, 000 SMEs in the country over the last seven years with funding estimated at about GHS1.6 billion.
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He was emphatic that the creation of some 2.1 million jobs under the NPP rule would not have been possible without the immense contribution of the private sector.
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Consequently, his administration will not relent in pursuing the overall Party’s vision relating to job creation anchored by a thriving SME ecosystem. Â
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