The President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has described the Covid-19 pandemic as a missed golden opportunity for the country to transform its economic structure and industrialise.

Dr. Humphrey Ayim-Darke, speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, April 11, lamented the country’s failure to pivot meaningfully towards self-reliance and manufacturing in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The failure he believes is now being exposed by recent global shocks, including the 10% tariff slapped on Ghanaian exports such as cocoa by the United States.

“The general, broad assurance is there,” Dr. Ayim-Darke noted, referencing statements from government officials about Ghana’s readiness to recalibrate its economy.

“But you know, there are some externalities, or external factors. When they befall a nation, no matter the assurance from the President… they are beyond your control.”

He identified the U.S. tariffs as a textbook case of such external shocks and warned that the nation must learn to internalise these risks and prepare accordingly.

“This is one clear case of an external factor. How do you manage it? How do you mitigate it?”

Dr. Ayim-Darke believes Ghana should have used Covid-19 as a springboard to reduce dependency on imports and build internal capacity.

“The case of Covid-19 showed us one clear example,” he said.

“However, how did we execute the fallout of Covid-19? How did we deliberately promote local manufacturing companies as a fallout of COVID? That example is there, but how many companies can we count out beyond that?”

To him, the government’s exit plan and economic restructuring narrative, while optimistic, lack practical substance.

“That said, assurance is not sufficient because there are other obstacles,” he stressed.

“Recovery couldn’t take advantage of the situation to industrialise.”

He cited the energy sector as one such area where Ghana has attempted to implement local content policies, encouraging companies to produce cables, conductors, and even set up meter assembly plants in collaboration with ECG.

“But beyond that,” he asked pointedly, “you need to go interrogate, how far have they been successful over the years?”

Dr. Ayim-Darke warned that the country continues to suffer from a structural economic imbalance dominated by imports.

“The structure of the economy is still highly dominant with imports,” he said.

“So if Covid couldn’t give us that reawakening to correct issues, and we could see such mistakes still are reoccurring, what is the probability that we could take our destiny into our own hands, even with this Liberation Day declaration?”

He ended on a sobering note: “It’s full of talk that we need,” implying that rhetoric without execution has become the norm, and Ghana risks repeating the same cycles of economic vulnerability unless it takes bold steps to industrialise in response to shocks like the recent U.S. tariffs.