Senior Lecturer of the Economics Department at the University of Ghana, Dr Priscilla Twumasi Baffour has said that for manufacturing firms to thrive in the country, a stable macroeconomic environment is needed.

According to her, when this environment is created, it will enable the country to attract foreign investment into the business sector.

“With a stable macroeconomic environment, we are talking about the interest rate which is the cost of capital … a stable currency is a requirement in our industrialisation drive, and we also need to keep inflation under control,” she listed what constituents the mentioned macroeconomic environment.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Dr Twumasi Baffour explained that the current manufacturing is not business-friendly for manufacturing activities.

She added that the unfriendly nature of the manufacturing sector has compelled manufacturers to manufacture goods and products out of the country.

“Indeed manufacturing is not attractive and when you come to speak to our business people. It is more attractive to buy and sell in Ghana than to manufacturing. Most of the challenges in the sector are quite daunting. Talk about infrastructure, access to credit, cost of energy, the whole business environment with regulation is not friendly for manufacturing activity that is why nost people would rather go outside produce goods with local names and bring them onto the market to sell,” she said.

She noted that when goods are been produced externally, the local people in Ghana are denied jobs because such avenues are opened out of the country.

To address the issues raised surrounding the manufacturing in the country, Dr Twumasi Baffour called for the repositioning of the manufacturing firms in order to benefit from the goodies that come along with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

She added that “the country stands to lose when we do not position our manufacturing firms to take advantage of opportunities that come with the Free trade area.”

According to her for the manufacturing firms to progress, “we need to put our borrowing in check so that government is not forced to go and borrow in the private sector.”

She also recommended that government keeps "its budget in check in terms of revenue and expenditure.”

Also, touching on the unemployment rate in the country, Dr Twumasi Baffour decried the current condition.

She stated that the unemployment rate in the country is quite alarming, adding that it is a matter of national security threat.

She noted that to solve the issue of unemployment, government ought to take “a critical look at our strategies towards employment generation,”

"As a country, we need to take a serious look at the structure of the economy and the sources. Why does the economy perform well on average in terms of growth but struggles to generate jobs? Perhaps it is time for us to pause and assess our industrialisation strategy over time,” she added.