President John Dramani Mahama has highlighted high electricity tariffs, unstable power supply, machinery import duties, and corporate taxation as key challenges undermining Ghana’s manufacturing sector, warning that these obstacles threaten the country’s competitiveness in West Africa.

Speaking to business leaders in Accra, the President emphasised the urgent need for structural reforms to reverse the sector’s long-term stagnation.

“For over five decades, Ghana’s manufacturing sector has contributed around 10% to GDP. Meanwhile, emerging Asian economies, starting from a similar basis, have achieved manufacturing of 20% to 30% of GDP,” he said, stressing that without decisive action, Ghana risks falling further behind regional peers.

To tackle these barriers, President Mahama announced comprehensive measures targeting energy costs and financing constraints.

“No industrial nation thrives under structurally high costs of power,” he said, revealing plans to accelerate energy sector debt restructuring, expand renewable energy generation, introduce differentiated off-peak tariffs for industry, and improve transmission efficiency.

In addition, the President pledged to enhance access to industrial financing through partnerships with the Bank of Ghana and development finance institutions.

“These reforms are not incremental adjustments, they are structural reforms necessary to change our trajectory,” he added.

The reforms form part of a broader national goal to increase manufacturing’s contribution to GDP from 10 percent to at least 15 percent by 2030 and create 500,000 new industrial jobs, positioning Ghana as a competitive manufacturing hub in West Africa.

By focusing on energy, taxation, and import cost reforms, the government seeks to remove persistent barriers that have long limited investment and industrial expansion in the country.