Kumasi, Aug. 17, GNA - Dr Charles Ackah, an economist and researcher of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana has attributed Ghana's economic development challenges to a number of factors.

They include low productivity both in the government and private sectors, high costs of and difficulty in accessing financing, underdeveloped infrastructure, chieftaincy conflicts and land tenure problems, unstable supply of energy and water.

The rest are low-skilled labour force, rising inequality in opportunities and outcomes, increasing rural-urban migration and urbanisation, sanitation, poor transport policy and traffic jams among other factors.

Dr Ackah was speaking at a media literacy project organised by the French Embassy in collaboration with the Centre for Democratic Development, Ghana, in Kumasi for some journalists drawn from the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions.

He stated that Ghana's economy was still not well-structured, adding that, though it formed part of government's aims to reduce poverty, "50 years on we still cannot add value to raw materials like cocoa, pineapples etc.

"Poverty has fallen from 52 per cent in 1992 to 28.5 per cent between 2005 and 2006, but inequality has been widened between the Northern and Southern sectors of Ghana in spite of the reduction in poverty level.

"Unlike Ghana, Botswana processes its diamond but Ghana's economy still continues to remain traditional", he stated. To deal with the issues, he recommended the modernisation of agriculture and the need to add value to raw materials.

Dr Ackah noted that "in Africa, countries like Botswana, Mauritius, and South Africa are doing far better than Ghana, although we have come a long way".

He underscored the need to train, motivate and pay workers well to stem the problem of low productivity, while ensuring equal work for equal pay.

The Economist called on financial institutions to make funds readily available for farmers, since farming was risky, because most farmers depended on the rains.

Dr Ackah called on the government to work in partnership with insurance companies and work out modalities that would see to it that farms were insured to take care of the risk involved in the business. He also called for accountability and transparency in the management of the oil revenue.

On the GT-Vodafone deal, the economist stated that he fully supported off-loading of the government's 70 per cent shares to Vodafone and emphasized that the objective of the discussions should be guided by whether Vodafone can efficiently manage the company and not that government needed money to support the budget.

"It's not an indictment on Ghanaians the fact that we need a foreign firm to manage the company. An advert was placed in the newspaper, why didn't Ghanaian management consultants form a consortium to apply for this.

"The issue is about expertise, technical know-how and we must create an environment for foreign direct investment where we can tap their expertise.

"We must support such investors provided they have the expertise, capacity and good will to deliver", he stated. He stressed the need for the involvement of the private sector to complement government's efforts at meeting its development agenda.