Election 2024: Bawumia promises vibrant SME ecosystem

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says his administration will pay particular attention to building a vibrant small-scale and medium enterprise (SME) ecosystem if elected President in the 2024 elections.Building a robust SME space, he said, was the stimulus required for sustainable economic growth, job and wealth creation.The Vice President, in a media interaction, in Accra, said the Government believed the private sector remained the engine of growth of Ghana's economy.The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) promises to set up an SME Bank, if retained in the December 07 General Election, according to the Party's manifesto.The idea is to boost the funding base for SME activities, encouraging business start-ups and advancing innovative ideas.It is estimated that SMEs account for some 92 per cent of existing companies, 85 per cent of manufacturing jobs and 70 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).Against this background, the Government recently launched an enterprising policy initi ative to underpin private sector growth.Dubbed, SME Growth and Opportunity Programme, the GHS8.2 billion project provides the platform for sustainable capacity-building, technical support, access to finance and developing innovative ideas to strengthen the private sector.It is expected that the project will contribute to building a future economy shaped by enterprise and innovation, where the people could witness their ideas becoming a reality.Vice President Dr Bawumia indicated that the Government had supported some 444, 000 SMEs in the country over the last seven years with funding estimated at about GHS1.6 billion.He was emphatic that the creation of some 2.1 million jobs under the NPP rule would not have been possible without the immense contribution of the private sector.Consequently, his administration will not relent in pursuing the overall Party's vision relating to job creation anchored by a thriving SME ecosystem.Source: Ghana News Agency