President Akufo-Addo says government will by May 2023 review the standards required for imports into the country as well as review the management of our foreign exchange reserves, in relation to imports of products.

In his first address to the nation on the state of the economy, the President said the current rate of importation is a major cause of the depreciating currency.

Thus, he urged the citizenry to “as a matter of urgent national security, reduce our dependence on imported goods, and enhance our self-reliance, as demanded by our overarching goal of creating a Ghana Beyond Aid.”

According to him, this is the only route to strengthen the country’s cedi against the dollar.

“In as much as we believe in free trade, we must work to ensure that the majority of goods in our shops and marketplaces are those we produce and grow here in Ghana,” he said on Sunday.

In order to achieve this that President Akufo-Addo has taken a firm stance to regulate the goods that are imported into the country.

“Products such as rice, poultry, vegetable oil, toothpicks, pasta, fruit juice, bottled water and ceramic tiles, and others which, with intensified government support and that of the banking sector, can be manufactured and produced in sufficient quantities in Ghana.

“Government will, in May 2023, that is six months from now, review the situation,” he said.