Accra, March 30, GNA - Government on Tuesday announced 2,000 cedis increase in the National Daily Minimum Wage from 9,200 cedis to 11,200 cedis, which is about 22 per cent, with effect from Thursday, April 1.

A communiqu? issued at end of negotiations by the National Tripartite Committee (NTC) and signed by Mr Yaw Barimah, Minister of Manpower Development and Employment; Mr Ato Ampiah, President of Ghana Employers Association and Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwaa, Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said.

The NTC is made up of Government, Employers and Labour. Mr Barimah is Government's representative; while Mr Ampiah is the representative of Employers and Mr Adu-Amankwaa, Labour. The communiqu? said any institution, organization or establishment, whose daily minimum wage fell below the new minimum wage, should adjust accordingly. It urged the Ministry of Manpower and Employment to undertake a survey on the compliance with the implementation of the new wage.

Commenting on the new minimum wage, Mrs Rose Karikari Anang, Executive Director of the Ghana Employers' Association, said since productivity was low in the country, efforts should be made to step it up. Mrs Anang was of the view that by so doing, the majority of the people would get employed, thereby reducing the unemployment rate to the barest minimum. Mr Napoleon Kpoh, General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) of the TUC, described the new wage as very reasonable and expressed the hope that workers would put in a little more effort at their workplaces in order to merit the increase.