GhanaCares to bolster export capacity of the country – Finance Minister

The government has revealed plans to leverage the GhanaCares Obaatanpa project to bolster the productive and export capacity of the private sector.

Presenting the 2023 budget statement, Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, said the high food prices and pressures on the local currency validates the current focus of the GhanaCARES Programme to bolster the productive and export capacity of the private sector.

To this end, he said an economic enclave project with focus on providing support for the cultivation of up to 110,000 acres of land in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central, Savannah and Oti Regions was being pursued.

He said this initiative would expand the production and productivity in rice, tomato, maize, vegetables and poultry and was being led and coordinated by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) in collaboration with other government institutions.

In addition to the Enclave Project, he said the GhanaCARES programme in 2023 would continue to offer catalytic support in some targeted areas.

To this end, he said the programme would work with DBG to provide funding to interested and targeted farmers, support MoFA to adopt and deploy the farmer registration database for the farmer input subsidy programme to enhance efficiency.

He said the programme would also ensure the operationalisation of the Foundry under a sustainable private sector management framework; and provide interest rate subsidies and direct financing; including supporting prioritised sectors in the rural economy through the ARB Apex Bank and its network of banks as agreed under the AfDB-supported Post-COVID Skills and Productivity Enhancement Project.