Dr Kofi Nsiah-Poku, President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), has warned that worsening water shortages are severely disrupting production and threatening Ghana’s industrialisation efforts.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition, he said the situation is particularly critical for beverage manufacturers, noting that for about two weeks, water supply was completely unavailable.

When it resumed, supply was limited and rationed, running for only six hours twice a week, he added.

Dr Nsiah-Poku revealed that his own fruit juice production facility has been directly affected, forcing the purchase of water from external sources to maintain operations, which adds to already high business costs.

“I also have an industry there producing fruit juice, and they work only twice, and we have to buy water from outside to put in the water tanks before you can do production,” he said.

“As a nation, we cannot industrialise with this kind of situation,” he stressed.

He cautioned that such conditions undermine the country’s industrialisation ambitions and highlighted the broader financial environment, including previously high interest rates that discouraged business borrowing and redirected investment into government securities, contributing to declining industrial activity and rising unemployment.

Dr Nsiah-Poku emphasised the need to reverse the trend, noting that industries relying on daily water supply now face a serious production threat.

Water production in Ghana, among other factors, has been significantly impacted by the pollution of waterbodies due to rampant illegal mining.