Ghana’s local pharmaceutical sector suffering due to heavy imports – AGI President
The President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) Dr Yaw Adu Gyamfi said many internal economic factors and unfair competition from foreign markets is making it difficult for Ghana’s pharmaceutical industries to thrive.
According to him factors such as high production costs, underdeveloped infrastructure, absence of new technologies/equipment for productivity enhancement, weak regulations and institutions and unfair competition from foreign markets is making it difficult for Ghana’s pharmaceutical industries to thrive.
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According to Dr Yaw Adu Gyamfi: “Ghanaian pharmaceutical products, obviously have good potential in Ghana and the entire sub-region and even beyond, but due to challenges in our business environment, we tend to import so much instead of making frantic effort to produce them in Ghana to further our industrial development agenda.”
Dr Gyamfi lamented that the low patronage of locally produced drugs can lead to job losses and fold-ups. This, in turn, will lead to an increase in the unemployment rate and also affect wealth creation efforts.
Entrance Pharmaceuticals and Research Centre Managing Director, Kwadwo Asare Twerefour said that pharmaceuticals sales in Ghana reached US$302million in 2016. This is estimated to increase to US$590million in 2026.
However, he said this can only happen if the local pharmaceutical industries enjoy a good business environment while they also strategically position themselves for access and growth.
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