President John Dramani Mahama has revealed plans to amend the Procurement Act, making it mandatory for all government agencies, public schools, and hospitals to purchase Ghanaian-made goods listed on an annual schedule to be published by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA).
Speaking during the commissioning of the NorthShore Apparel Hub in Savelugu, Northern Region, President Mahama explained that the GSA will compile a comprehensive list of licensed local products alongside benchmark pricing. Under the proposed legal framework, any state institution seeking to acquire items captured on the schedule will be legally bound to source them locally.
“This will remove the need for competitive tender, if a local company produces it, you must buy it instead of importing,” President Mahama stated.
Building Capacity and Protecting Domestic Capital
From an economic perspective, using state purchasing power as an industrial policy tool promises a guaranteed off-take market for domestic manufacturers. By forcing public institutions to buy Ghanaian-made goods, the government can shield local firms from cheap foreign imports, stabilize corporate cash flows, and create a strong incentive for private capital to invest in expand production capacity.
Furthermore, retaining public procurement funds within the domestic economy creates a powerful multiplier effect: increased local production directly accelerates job creation, boosts tax revenues, and reduces import dependency, helping ease pressure on the cedi.
The President emphasized that the policy will explicitly target state procurement of security service uniforms, footwear, and protective equipment, responding directly to appeals from NorthShore’s management.
“I believe its time has come. We need to be firm and insist on it now,” he noted, recalling how his previous administration revamped the Kumasi Shoe Factory to supply military boots, only for the venture to suffer low patronage due to an ingrained institutional preference for foreign imports.
Industrial Policy and Financial Restructuring
The mandatory procurement directive aligns with a broader macroeconomic strategy anchored on Free Zones incentives, tax relief for manufacturers, and the 24-Hour Economy initiative. President Mahama cited NorthShore Apparel, which employs roughly 2,000 workers primarily exporting finished garments, as proof that local firms can deliver scale and quality when backed by strategic investments.
To ensure small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) have the capital required to meet state-level demand, the government is also cleaning up industrial finance channels. President Mahama highlighted ongoing efforts to recover defaulted loans at the Ghana EXIM Bank, which was originally established in 2016 to finance anchor projects like NorthShore.
The President lamented that the fund had previously been diverted to politically connected beneficiaries with low recovery rates. He confirmed that current EXIM Bank leadership, under Sylvester Mensah, is aggressively pursuing non-performing loans to refocus the bank’s balance sheet on high-impact, job-creating manufacturing ventures.
