The Managing Director of the Stanbic Bank, Alhassan Andani, has Ghana must speed up its industrialsation agenda to cushion the country from external shocks when situations like COVID-19 emerge.

He said this while speaking at a webinar organized by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industries on strategies for business survival and growth.

The webinar was on the theme, “COVID-19, financing options to stimulate local production.”

He said : “For example, most of our import trade that was coming from Asia, China have had to suffer significant setbacks because of the disruption in global supply chains.

“ So, what kind of alternatives would be available and this is the kind of conversation we would want to pick up with the National Chamber for Commerce and Industry and other industry players to see how we can diversify our economy away from a huge reliance on Asia and China generally,” he said.

The government is President Akufo-Addo is embarking on industrialization to strengthen the local economy.

The government identified the strategic interventions including the One District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative, the National Industrial Revitalisation Programme (NIRP), the establishment of Industrial Parks and Special Economic Zones (IPSEZ), export development and SME development. As some of the measures to achieve that aim.