The truth stands that various organisations are doubling efforts into making the World a better place for women across the World of which Ghanaian women are included.
And indeed women have risen to the occasion and excelled in diverse career paths whenever an opportunity presents itself.
They are shaking up the corporate and entrepreneurial World by taking high positions which was hitherto the preserve of men.
When Lucy Quist the first Ghanaian woman to lead a multinational telecom company, took over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Airtel Ghana, she successfully re-positioned the company into the fastest growing telecom brand growing customer market share for both voice and data.
Leading the way, other women have veered into such high profile positions. The United Bank for Africa’s first female regional CEO, was adjudged Finance Personality of the Year at the Ghana Accountancy and Finance Awards last year.
Aside those with high ranking jobs in the corporate World, quite a chunk of women have taken a plunge into entrepreneurship.
This is evident inEven though government has forecast an overall GDP growth of 6.8 percent, most analysts have noted that with a prolonged tightening of the fiscal space, this target could be difficult to attain.
In 2017, the economy expanded by 8.5 percent, becoming the fastest rate in five years – mainly on the back of increased oil and gas production; meanwhile, in 2016 the recorded economic growth was 3.7 percent.
Growth in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), reached 8.1 percent compared to 9.7 percent in the third quarter. That third quarter figure was revised upward from 9.3 percent.
The economy recorded its fastest-ever growth rate of 14 percent in 2011, when it started commercial oil and gas production. The economy also grew by 9.3 percent the following year. Oil production grew by 80.4 percent in 2017.
Aside from Jubilee, Ghana also produces oil from the TEN field and reserves operated by Italy’s Eni which came on stream last year. The London-listed Tullow Oil is lead operator for both Jubilee and TEN. the recent Master Card foundation index which revealed that Ghana has the highest number of women in business and almost half of businesses in Ghana are owned by women.
With the country in its final year of a US$918million credit deal with the International Monetary Fund to narrow deficit and debt and spur growth, some analysts worry that it might regress into annual fiscal slippages and slow economic growth.
Inflation
On inflation, Renaissance Capital expects it to average 10.4 percent in 2018, after it slowed to 10.4 percent year-on-year in March from 12.8 percent.
But President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, speaking at a conference in London this week, said his government aims to bring inflation down to single-digits in 2018, at around 8.9 percent.
“This would make us one of the fastest-growing economies in the world,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said his government is keen on establishing a business-friendly economy that attracts foreign direct investments on mutually satisfactory terms to exploit Ghana’s great potential.
He stated firmly that the private sector’s role in the development of Ghana’s economy is crucial: “It is the very essence of our economic philosophy and has been so for 70-odd years.” He related how his administration, over the past 15 months, had instituted the required actions to ease the cost of doing business and improve the business environment in Ghana.
These measures, he said, have resulted in macro-economic stability, reduction in inflation and the abolition of nuisance taxes – aimed at shifting the economy’s focus from taxation to production, as well as reining-in fiscal deficit from 9.5 percent to 5.6 percent at the end of the 2017 fiscal year. Ghana’s fiscal deficit has been projected to go down to 4.5 percent in 2018.