The Minister of Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir (KT) Hammond, has said that the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and also the Russia-Ukraine war negatively impacted some of the factories under the One District One Factory (IDIF) initiative.
However, he said these factories are gradually picking up.
Asked how the factories have been doing while speaking on the Ghana Tonight show with Alfred Ocansey on TV3 Wednesday, June 14, the Adansi-Asokwa Member of Parliament said “To answer your question they are doing very well, not to say they are doing 100 percent well, not 100 percent because they are collapsing or falling out…[but because] we had Covid and Ukraine.
“My friends from the other aisle [NDC lawmakers] don’t want to hear the President talk about Covid and Russian-Ukraine war but they are an inevitability.
“In any political and economic context, you would have to mention this double whammy of a disaster because they haven’t helped anybody. So in the context of this, some of the [factories] have struggled a bit [but] they are picking up and doing what it takes.”
Factories under the 1District 1Factory project are doing very well. The Covid 19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war played a role in the factories that are struggling a bit – K.T Hammond#GhanaTonight pic.twitter.com/ydoBwyhbx1
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) June 15, 2023
Mr KT Hammond further said that 126 of 143 factories under the 1D1F initiative are fully functional.
The 1D1F initiative is the vision of His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to change the nature of Ghana’s economy from one which is dependent on import and export of raw materials to one which is focused on manufacturing, value addition and export of processed goods.