‘Govt’s 106 1D1F factories has created 289,000 jobs’

The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Herbert Krapa, has revealed that the government has created 289,000 jobs from 106 factories under the flagship 1-District 1-Factory (1D1F) policy since its inception in 2017.

He stated that about 150,000 direct jobs had also been created, 139,000 indirect jobs created and the total number of 1D1F projects which had passed through the ministry and were at different stages of completion was 275 so far.

According to Mr Krapa, 60 per cent of the factories were new, starting from scratch, while 40 per cent were existing factories that needed some revamping and the 1D1F was a strategic initiative to boost the nation’s industrialisation drive which would go a long way to bolster the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He noted that the government would ensure the factories produced to meet world standards saying “we are trying to build them for the export market and they will not pass the export market if we do not ensure that the standards are at the right level.

“We also do not want them to get complacent, that is why from the onset, the ministry and its consultants are ensuring that whatever you are producing is meeting the right certification and standards for the domestic and export market,” Mr Krapa stressed.

The deputy minister added that the 1D1F initiative sought to change the structure of the nation’s economy from one which was dependent on import and export of raw materials to one which was focused on manufacturing, value addition and export of processed goods by processing raw materials. –pulse.com.gh