Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has underscored the crucial role of the private sector in promoting sustainable development and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking as the Special Guest at the 2023 Ghana CEO Awards on Monday, 30th September, 2023, Dr. Bawumia has urged business leaders to play crucial role by way of collaborating with the government to achieve the SDGs, as the private sector is vital in fostering innovation, job creation, as well as driving the economy.
“According to the United Nations Global Compact, the private sector accounts for 60 per cent of the world’s GDP, 90 per cent of employment and 80 per cent of capital flows globally, thus the private sector’s role in the promotion of sustainable development and achieving the SDGs cannot be underestimated,” Dr Bawumia said.
Dr. Bawumia noted the country’s progress in reducing poverty rates from 52% in 1991 to 23% in 2017. He indicated that Ghana’s ranking of 107 out of 193 nations in the 2021 SDG index emphasized the importance of the private sector’s active participation, considering its significant contribution to the nation’s GDP.
He has also acknowledged the public sector’s critical role in creating an enabling environment for the private sector in areas such as macroeconomic stability, unique national identification address systems, financial inclusion through mobile money interoperability, domestic revenue mobilization, and credit systems through credit scoring, among other things, saying, “we cannot only leave it to the private sector in terms of achieving the SDGs; the public sector has an important role to play in areas such as macro-stability, address systems, financial inclusion through mobile money interoperability; digital payments, digital address systems, domestic revenue mobilization and this is what government is very much engaged in”.
