President Akufo-Addo says Ghana is well placed to minimise the economic impact of Coronavirus

Addressing the country on Wednesday (March 11, 2020), Nana Akufo-Addo said the state is in talks with some relevant industry players to produce inputs needed to tackle the possible spread of the virus into Ghana.

The president said that Ghana will take advantage of the pandemic to position itself as a self-reliant country and bring to an end the assistance it receives from other foreign countries.

He commended the efforts of international bodies such as the World Health Organization, World Bank and International Monetary Fund in the fight against the spread of the virus in the country and assured the public that the government is committed to doing everything possible to avert the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.

“Government is analyzing the potential impact on our economy to the virus and will trigger the relevant response to minimize it. We have begun to engage the domestic pharmaceutical industry to assist in producing as much of the logistics to prevent and combat the virus as it is possible under the circumstances.”

“Indeed, we must take advantage of the crisis to strengthen our domestic productive capacity so that we can advance our self-reliance and reduce our dependence on foreign inputs. Necessity they say is the mother of invention. We are grateful to the World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, IMF and friends of Ghana for the assistance they have so far provided and for the pledges made in our support of our fight. We shall continue to work with them to defeat the spread of the virus.”

All of Ghana’s immediate neighbours, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Togo, have recorded confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Analysts have said that the coronavirus pandemic which started in China will adversely affect some sectors of Ghana’s economy.

People have argued that Ghana does not have the capacity to produce some items it imports from China. The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has said that they may increase the prices of imported goods due to the virus.