{"id":114296,"date":"2026-02-06T05:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T05:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=114296"},"modified":"2026-02-06T05:24:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T05:24:00","slug":"it-hurt-me-gncci-ceo-says-1d1f-failure-left-ghana-naked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=114296","title":{"rendered":"It hurt me \u2013 GNCCI CEO says 1D1F failure left Ghana naked"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mark Badu-Aboagye, the CEO of Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), says failure to build a strong value-added manufacturing base has left the country dangerously exposed to global shocks.<\/p>\n

He warned that the economy cannot progress if it continues exporting raw materials.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Joy News\u2019 PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, Mr Badu-Aboagye said the country\u2019s growth ambitions will remain limited unless it strengthens its manufacturing sector and begins to add value to its output.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you keep on producing and exporting these raw materials, if you don\u2019t add value to them, if you don\u2019t strengthen your manufacturing sector, you are going nowhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He cited Ghana\u2019s experience with gold, arguing that value addition would reduce the country\u2019s vulnerability to global price swings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMind you, I think we have set up a gold refinery in Ghana. If you\u2019re able to do that, then we\u2019ll not be so afraid of gold prices going up, because we\u2019d have added value to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Using cocoa as another example, Mr Badu-Aboagye said Ghana and C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire remain at the bottom of the earnings chain despite producing the world\u2019s most valuable cocoa beans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take our cocoa, for instance, and we are able to add value to it, the value chain for chocolate, those who are producing the cocoa \u2013 Ghana, Cote d\u2019Ivoire \u2013 out of over $100 and so billion, we just get about $3 billion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He stressed that the largest profits in commodity trading accrue to those who process and manufacture finished products.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo those who are making the money are those who are adding value to the raw material,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mr Badu-Aboagye said Ghana must stop treating macroeconomic stability as an end in itself and instead focus on restructuring the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I say we should begin to move from the stability, the honeymoon, to a point where we change the structure of the economy and add value to whatever we produce. We need to start somewhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In that context, he expressed frustration with the failure of the One District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative, calling it a missed opportunity that left Ghana \u201cnaked\u201d in the face of external disruptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why I got so hurt when the One District, One Factory didn\u2019t work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While he acknowledged concerns about the programme\u2019s design, he argued that even limited success would have made a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I had issues with the structure, because it\u2019s not every district that you can set up a factory, and they will do well,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

He said some districts would require support for raw materials, while others were too far from markets to sustain certain industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the districts you have to provide raw material. Some of the districts, by their nature, are so far away from the market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But he insisted that Ghana did not need to build factories in every district to benefit from the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have been able to do and build just, let\u2019s say, 30 out of the numerous 1D1F, which are strongly built 30 to produce one of the things that we import, just the tissues, just the fruit juices, just the basic things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He argued that local production of basic goods, combined with value addition and exports, could have provided a buffer against shocks and reduced import dependence.<\/p>\n

\u201cProduce them and also add value to be able to export them, would have been able to protect ourselves from these shops,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Badu-Aboagye also raised concerns about Ghana\u2019s dependence on exporting gold in its raw form, arguing that it leaves the country at the mercy of foreign buyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are crying for gold because you are spotting it in its raw form. And those who determine the price of gold are not you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said global demand is driven by buyers outside Ghana, including major trading hubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is those outside there because how many Ghanaians buy gold to use? It is the Dubai and the Indians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to him, these buyers can influence pricing decisions based on their own stock levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the ones that are so they, as a cartel, can decide\u2026 they\u2019ve also built their inventory, their stock. It will get to a time they won\u2019t need gold again,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if you want to give me gold, you have to lower the price,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mr Badu-Aboagye also cited oil as another vulnerability, noting that Ghana is a net importer and that rising global prices have immediate domestic consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, we are net importers of oil, so once we have an issue with oil, oil prices begin to rise. The pass-through effect of increases in oil prices in our economy is so rapid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His remarks reinforce concerns from the business community that Ghana remains overly exposed, overly import-dependent, and overly reliant on raw exports\u2014leaving the economy fragile in the face of global shifts.<\/p>\n

For Mr Badu-Aboagye, the answer is clear: Ghana must add value, build manufacturing strength, and start producing more of what it consumes, or it will continue to repeat the same cycle of vulnerability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mark Badu-Aboagye, the CEO of Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), says failure to build a strong value-added manufacturing base has left the country dangerously exposed to global shocks.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6045,1906,2092,1883,16483,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gncci","category-hp-news-5","category-mark-badu-aboagye","category-national","category-one-district-one-factory","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}