link oil industry to other sectors

Link oil industry to other sectors - * Stakeholders at an Oil and Gas forum held on Tuesday in Accra have called for linkages between the oil and gas industry and other sectors of the economy to trigger equal growth of all the economic sectors. The forum noted that such linkage would help Ghana to avoid the “Dutch Disease” menace that pushed Nigeria to abandon all other sectors of the economy leading to their collapse eventually because of the over reliance on the oil sector. The public forum was organized by the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) for various civil society organizations, private sector, state agencies and researchers to discuss the likely economic impact of the oil and gas sector in Ghana. It was on the theme: “Enhancing Stakeholders knowledge on the Economy-wide linkages of Ghana’s Oil and Gas Sector for poverty Reduction”. The Executive Director, ISODEC Bishop Akologo said the forum was to help learn how the oil economy worked and map out possible linkages that politicians and various actors could adopt and implement to ensure a level playing field for all other sectors. According to him, the expectation was that every “player” would understand the linkages and play its parts in the sector to help improve the quality of life of Ghanaians. The Chief Executive officer, Sync Consult, a Management and Financial Services organization, Bennet Kpantey, said the salt industry could for instance be expanded to ensure that Ghana produced enough salt for commercial and industrial use, especially to feed the oil industry, which was among the highest consumer of salt in the world.