Use Heritage Fund as collateral to grow industry – Asantehene

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has suggested that Ghana’s Heritage Fund be used as collateral to help support Ghanaian industries.

The Fund is a creation under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (Act 815), 2011, to set aside a portion of the country’s petroleum revenue for the benefit of future generation.

Whilst expressing worry at the stress private ventures go through in securing loans for expansion, the Asantehene believes the Heritage Fund can be used as collateral to help the sector access enough credits for business expansion.

“The bank is not ready to give long term loans to the agriculture and industrial sectors, that is why I am suggesting that the Heritage Fund be used as a collateral for the private sector,” the King noted when the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) paid a courtesy call on him at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu decried the dependence of the economy on import, saying the practice is a major threat to the country’s future economic growth, hence the need to boost the private sector.

He advised industry players to place value on their products in order to make them attractive for export. “If we don’t do more export than import, our economy will suffer.

But we also need to place value on our export products,” he noted. “The private sector plays a cardinal role in our economy; job creation and export are major catalysts for a thriving economy”.

President of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Nana Appiagyei Dankawoso I, supported the Asantehene’s suggestion and called for national attention on the issue.

“The pieces of advice that were given by Otumfuo, the Asantehene, are something to reckon with.

Ghana is an agricultural state and we are looking for investors to support us but the financial institutions are not ready to give us long term loans,” he observed.

Commenting on the government’s flagship industrialization initiatives, Nana Appiagyei said the chamber is ready to push the “One-District-One-Factory” policy implementation. “We are having a forum to discuss how the policy will thrive in the country,” he stated.