Economist Prof. John Gatsi has suggested that electricity is essential if the 24-hour economy proposal by the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, is to be implemented.
He believes part of the manufacturing sector will be disincentivized if constant electricity is not provided to ensure effective production.
The economist also mentioned that efficient security is needed in the implementation of the 24-hour economy.
Mr. Mahama, during his campaign tour in the Bono East Region, proposed to transform the economy with his 24-hour idea if elected in the 2024 elections. The proposal has become a topic of discussion among both the business community and politicians.
“Broadly, we need to incentivize by providing efficient security for some of the cities and sectors that we want to target. Power is key in the production process; electricity must definitely be worked on for us to become competitive,” Prof. Gatsi opined.
Speaking on Citi TV on the Big Issue, Prof. Gatsi emphasized the need for competitive production if the 24-hour economy will succeed in emerging markets.
“If you want to quickly address the huge consumption of tomatoes, ginger, garlic, rice in the country, the demand is there, so no problem; it’s the capacity that is not there. We have to incentivize the capacity within the 24-hour in the production of these areas. The market is already there, so we don’t have a problem with that. Even where the market is, we need to also look at how the 24-hour will incentivize competitive production.
He added, “If we are going to incentivize production in general and foster a 24-hour economy in this capacity to be able to feed into it, then we need not to look at only the market, but we also need to look at the competitiveness of production. If you want to consider the export market, that is where we should be looking at whether the market exists or not. All these nuances within the operation will have to be considered as we go along. Competitive production is key to the success of this agenda.”
