Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance, says the government is committed to instituting policies and programmes that would provide equal opportunities for the youth to aid their growth and development.

He said the youth were the backbone of the country's economic growth, and therefore, it was necessary to empower them to achieve this aim.

He was speaking, in Tamale, at a Springboard Youth Dialogue, which was organised by the Springboard Road Show Foundation (SRSF).

It was on the theme; "Repositioning – Bouncing Back from COVID-19 and Finding Opportunities".

The event was a motivational and personal development programme that brought together selected young people from the Northern Region for mentorship.

Mr Ofori-Atta, who was the Guest Speaker at the event, noted that as part of Ghana's plans to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the "Ghana Cares Obatanpa" programme was being rolled out to drive the country's economic growth for the next three years.

He advised the youth to take advantage of this initiative and other interventions such as the African Continental Free Trade Area(AfCTA) to enhance their livelihoods.

"We need to create an enabling ecosystem for the youth which will empower them to be part of the nation's economic transformation agenda, and these and many other interventions will do just that".

The Finance Minister encouraged the youth to leverage technology and digitisation to take up opportunities to develop businesses that would guarantee their wellbeing.