Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has opined that the National Cathedral should be viewed as a tool for economic growth because the project, when completed, has the potential to bring in millions of dollars in revenue and must be seen as an economic venture as well.
According to him, ongoing contentions around the building of the cathedral should be strategically reconsidered, as they have the potential to accelerate the government’s efforts to stimulate Ghana’s tourism growth.
Speaking at the Ghana Tourism Investment Summit 2023, Mr. Ofori-Atta noted that the National Cathedral has the potential to build robust infrastructure for economic growth.
“This whole issue about the National Cathedral, in my mind, is the third leg of this triangle because how do you build a society in which you are clear in defining who you are politically? How do you build a society in which the economic engine is growing, and how do you contain that within the spiritual realm that ensures stability in the ages to come? And so, even as we look at something like the National Cathedral that has economic benefits beyond what we see, both in Israel and the Hajj, they realize about $6 billion to $8 billion a year and in Africa, we have some 600 million people who are Christians and so imagine Ghana as the new Jerusalem. It will be a different reality.”
He further asserted that the government remains committed to transforming the tourism and arts industry as they have a multiplier economic impact on the country.
“We are looking at increasing Ghana’s international tourist arrivals, and so the Ghanaian economy is going to continue to significantly depend on tourism and the creative sectors to provide literally two out of the ten jobs that will be created going into the future.”
