According to him, the govern­ment over the years had focused on Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) in creating jobs and raising financial resources.

“No country grows if it ignores its domestic investors,” Dr Ofosu-Dorte stated at the Ghana Economic Forum (GEF) in Accra on Thursday.

The day’s programme, organ­ised by the Business and Financial Times, an Accra-based newspaper, was on the theme ‘Unlocking Opportunities: Re-Engineering Ghana’s Economic Model for Sustainable Development.’

Thirteenth, in the series, the event brought together Chief Executive Officers, captains of industries, representatives of private organisations, develop­ment institutions, international organisations and members of the diplomatic corps to discuss sustainable measures to promote economic growth and accelerate the development of the country.

Dr Ofosu-Dorte, who was the keynote speaker,stated that government must help build local investors and ride on that to at­tract FDI’s, saying, “local invest­ment is a way to attract foreign investment.”

He emphasised that govern­ment should introduce incentives and measures to ensure that companies established under FDIs thrived to employ more of the unemployed youth in the country in order to address the growing unemployment problem facing the country.

Dr Ofosu-Dorte, who spoke on the theme of the programme, said most companies operating under the FDI’s space did not sur­vive after entering the country.

Among other suggestions, the Senior Partner of AB & David called for a fit-for-purpose policy to promote growth of businesses and a National Development Plan (NDP) to help promote the devel­opment of the country.

He said the NDP should be led by the National Development Planning Commission and should have a buy-in from all the polit­ical stakeholders and the media, adding that the NDPC should ensure the various political parties incorporated the NDP in their party manifestos.

Dr Ofosu-Dorte further urged the business community not to sit on the fence, but corporate and collaborate with the political actors and be bold to point out the flaws in the policies of the government.

He noted that if the economy becomes broke, the government would introduce new taxes to raise additional revenue and that normally hurt businesses.

Additionally, Mr Ofosu-Dorte entreated the participants and speakers to come out with practi­cal and workable solutions to help address the economic challenges facing the country.

The Secretary-General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, who was the guest of honour, said trade, industrialisation and food security were crucial to propel Africa’s development.

That, he said, was the reason AfCFTA, which had a market of 1.4 billion people, had been established to help promote intra-Africa trade to boost Africa’s industrialisation and growth to bring prosperity to her people.

Mr Mene indicated that a lot had been achieved since the implementation of the AfCFTA initiative five years ago.

The AfCFTA Secretary-Gen­eral said a Pan-African Payment System had been introduced to promote trade and payment on the continent. $50-billion AfCFTA Adjustment Fund has been established to support AfCFTA member countries and said so far $5 billion had been mobilised.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Business and Financial Times, Dr Godwin Acquaye, said the GEF had become a beacon of insightful dialogue and innova­tive platform for solutions to the country’s economic challenges.

He stated that there was an urgent need for economic stabil­ity and growth to bring relief to businesses and the citizens.

Dr Acquaye said the country’s growth and stability should be influenced by a long-term devel­opment plan that transcended political regimes.

“The government must create an enabling environment through sound policies to help the private sector to thrive,” Dr Acquaye added.

To this end, he called on the government, civil society and academia to come out with policies that promote economic diversification.