President John Mahama on Wednesday engaged the leadership of businesses and captains of industries on the Government’s new “24-Hour Economy Policy” at the Presidency in Accra.

The “24-Hour Economy Policy” is a policy that aims to stimulate economic activity by encouraging businesses to operate around the clock, or at least in multiple shifts, to increase productivity and create jobs.

The President’s multi-sectoral engagement on the implementation of the “24-Hour Economy Policy”, which is a crucial part of a national reset agenda of the government, was attended by over 200 participants.

President Mahama said the 24-Hour vision was both a destination and a programme.

He said that as a destination, the 24-Hour Economy Policy reflected a state where Ghana’s productivity and capital utilisation would become so high that they would have to operate in multiple shifts across day and night, maximising the return on infrastructure, on human resources and innovation.

This idea, he said, captured the public imagination during the 2024 campaign, which remained at the core of their drive towards full employment and inclusive economic growth.

He said that as a programme, the 24-Hour Economy demanded a deep and deliberate restructuring of our productive economy.

“We must re-engineer our production systems from top to bottom, boosting volumes and diversity, and shifting from reliance on raw materials towards the export of value-added products, wholesome foods, pharmaceuticals, garments, industrial inputs and digital services,” President Mahama said.

He said earlier this month, he received a complete draft of the 24-Hour Economy Policy from his advisor, Mr Goosie Tanoh.

President Mahama said he had reviewed the report and was confident there was now a coherent and actionable framework with which to deliver the results.

President Mahama said an effective catalyst for the 24-Hour Economy Policy was a stable macroeconomic environment, which they were achieving through close coordination between the monetary and fiscal authorities; however, the programme went beyond macroeconomic stability.

This, he said, was being pursued by the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana, and that it focused sharply on production, enterprise, jobs and exports.

He noted that at its core, it was an integrated value chain transformation approach, which addressed structural bottlenecks not in isolation, but comprehensively through infrastructure, finance, land systems, logistics and skills development.

He said one of its boldest proposals was the development of the Volta Lake Economic Corridor.

He said the corridor, centred on the Volta Lake and the Volta Basin, would become a national production zone and logistics hub.

He noted that the 24-Hour Economy Policy document would be made public on Tuesday, June 3.

He said the 24-Hour Economy Secretariat would be decentralised to the district level to enable all districts to benefit from it

The President said the Government would officially launch the 24-Hour Plus programme on July 1st, Ghana’s Republic Day.