By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Sakumono, Jan. 20, GNA – The Reverend Dr. Wolanyo Mensah, an Economist, has called for Ghana to prioritise the development of its petrochemical industry to address the persistent food inflation issues in the country.
Rev. Dr. Mensah explained that the high cost of transportation, driven by rising fuel prices, is the main factor behind escalating food prices, stressing that processing petroleum products domestically could significantly reduce fuel costs, lower transportation costs, and stabilise food prices, ultimately ensuring economic resilience and improving the quality of life for citizens.
He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that Ghana’s reliance on imported petroleum products had left the economy vulnerable, stressing that, without localised petrochemical processing, the country could not break the cycle of high transportation costs contributing to food inflation.
The Economist urged policymakers to accelerate efforts to establish domestic petrochemical processing facilities by revamping Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and building more refineries in the country, especially in Takoradi, to create more jobs and stabilise the economy.
He said that inflation in general was high, affecting policy rate, interest rate, and exchange rate, making the stability of the local economy very challenging, noting that industrialisation and domestication were key in building the nation.
“Ghanaians don’t want so much money for themselves; they want the prices of goods and services to reduce or to have some level of stability for a very long time, and if the finance minister invests in these areas definitely, he’ll be one of the finest finance ministers we’ll have in the history of Ghana,” he stated.
Rev. Dr. Mensah also called for a robust policy that would champion food production to complement other efforts to curb inflation.
“Once inflation is reduced, you have stabilised the economy; once the economy is stabilised, definitely the cost of living is reduced; once the cost of living is reduced, you have improved upon the standard of living.”
He mentioned that the country needed to venture into specialised farming, suggesting that maize, rice, beans, or any other product could be chosen, saying that areas such as the North, Oti, and the lower Volta base areas would be suitable for commercial rice farming, which could be exported to feed the entire African.
The Economist suggested that prisoners could be used as labour for the state farms all day round if the country decides to venture into industrial rice farming, where they would be paid according to the minimum wage so they could have some substantial amount of money on them to start life after their service.
GNA