President John Dramani Mahama has initiated a campaign to encourage Ghanaians to patronize products made in Ghana.

He made this assertion during the delivery of the State of the Nation in Parliament today.

President Mahama traced the economic problem the country faces recently to the colonial period where he acknowledged the efforts made by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and General Kutu Acheampong, who championed the cause to develop and use locally manufactured products.

He said the country is still largely dependent on imported products and the fundamental problem of our economy is that we don’t make use of what we produce. President Mahama said last year the country spent 1.5 billion dollars in foreign currency on imports of rice, sugar, fish, tomato and basic cooking oil.

“If this money had been retained and spent in Ghana it would have gone into the pockets of Ghanaian entrepreneurs which would subsequently remain here to boost the economy”, he added.

He said it is about time assistance is given to local investors to increase the production of local foods and that financing has been finalized for the construction of a new sugar processing plant in Komenda to support the demand locally and reduce the level of imports.

He also hinted the joint agreement between the Tema Oil Refinery and Petro Saudi which is being finalized to revamp operations of the refinery which in turn would reduce the foreign exchange problems facing the country.

President Mahama said he had tasked COCOBOD to enter strategic partnerships to produce Jute Sacks which is currently imported and also requested the Electricity Company of Ghana to encourage the production of electrical materials locally.

He indicated that his shoe was made in Ghana and encouraged Ghanaians to appreciate locally made products.