Kumasi, Sept 28, GNA - Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Ashanti Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Kwabre West has said that government's quest to improve the level of investments could only be realized if investors exploited the avalanche of business financing facilities.

He said such facilities include business loans, equipment equity financing, working capital and mortgages being offered by credit institutions in the country. He said it was also important for businessmen and women to insure their businesses against risks and unforeseen circumstances and also develop the habit of paying back bank loans. Mr Owusu-Ansah said this in address read on his behalf by Mr Osei-Assibey Antwi, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister at the Kumasi edition of the Moderatorial Business Luncheon of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana held on Friday.

The Luncheon was under the theme; "Business Financing in Ghana - Prospects and Challenges" and attracted over 500 business, corporate executives and professionals from the Northern, Brong-Ahafo, Asante and Asante-Akyem Presbyteries. Mr Owusu-Ansah urged those in the business sector to move beyond ordinary trading and enter into the manufacturing and agro processing sector where greater value addition, job and wealth creation existed, adding "if you enter the processing sectors, your businesses will also become stronger".

He commended the Church especially the Moderator for the initiative and contributions which undoubtedly complement government's support to the private sector as the engine of growth in the economy. "As a social and development partner of the government our church has provided both health and educational facilities dotted all over the country to augment government's efforts in making such facilities affordable and accessible to the populace especially those in the rural areas," he added. Mr Owusu-Ansah said the Church has a greater responsibility to pray and intercede on behalf of the government and the nation for a peaceful and successful election this year which no doubt depended on how the people understood and conduct themselves in the process of democratic elections. The Right Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, in an address read on his behalf, said the luncheon instituted in 2007 as an annual networking was to enable the Church identify and mobilize needed human resource for effective administration and management. He said it was also to bridge the gap between the Church and the business community, help the leadership of the Church to market the brand "Presbyterian Church of Ghana and project the image, programmes, projects and policies of the church and to expose the business group of the Church to new insights and opportunities in the national economy". The Moderator noted that the problems and challenges affecting the church such as poor financing, mismanagement and weak investments could have been averted, had the Church consulted with its business class and corporate entities enough for professional and expert advice. Mr Yoofi Grant, Executive Chairman of Data Bank, asked the church to look at various economic options to raise funds for development and also network effectively to bridge the gap between the Church the economic world. Dr Richard Adjei of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre said there was hope for investors in the country considering the various economic infrastructural facilities put in place by the government that promoted business activities. Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), who presided, expressed the hope that members of the Church would effectively support policies, vision and projects that it had initiated to enhance its proper development.