His Excellency the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo,
Governor of the Bank of Ghana
Ministers of state,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning
I bring you warm greetings from the management and staff of the Business and Financial Times, your most authoritative source of business and economic information. It is, once again, a privilege to welcome you to the eighth edition of the Ghana Economic Forum (GEF), which has grown to become the largest gathering of policy makers, members of academia, captains of industry and politicians in our country to discuss relevant issues that will contribute to the development of our economy.
The GEF has proven, with its track record over the years, that the role of the media is not only to inform, educate and entertain, but to set a platform and agenda where critical thinkers and discerning minds would meet and come out with policies that will make this country the Ghana we want.
Over the past eight years, the GEF has offered participants the opportunity to make recommendations aimed at consolidating gains, and driving focus on economic issues which have received less attention.
It is for these reasons that we find this year’s theme: ‘Sustaining Financial and Economic Stability; the Key Priorities’, very appropriate. As we know, our country’s economy has come a long way. We have had many challenges but thankfully, successive managers of the economy have been able to come out with some solutions that have yielded some gains. We cannot say we have arrived, but certainly, we have gotten somewhere; which is the more reason why we must do everything in our power to sustain such gains, hence, the choice of our theme.
Undoubtedly, the fundamentals of the Ghanaian economy have been put to severe test over the past few years due to factors which are both domestic and global. However, the economy continues to be resilient. This is the time for us to sacrifice for the fundamentals of the economy to be strengthened and strongly resolve to maintain these gains irrespective of impending political seasons.
We are very much aware that this is also one of the visions of your administration, Mr. President. And this is why we are privileged and happy you honoured our invitation.
So, once again, Mr. President, thank you for accepting our invitation. We are indeed humbled.
We also thank all the experts and brains gathered here to serve in capacities as speakers or participants. We count on you, as always, to come out with the solutions we so need to lift our country to the next level.
Lastly, I cannot end my speech without acknowledging the benevolence and support of our sponsors who, without their resources, this event wouldn’t have seen the light of day.
I wish you all fruitful deliberations and a nice day.
Thank you all, once again, and may God bless our homeland Ghana and make it great and strong.
