Mahama: No credible remedial plans by govt to salvage economy

Former President John Mahama has bemoaned lack of credible remedial plans have been put forward by the government to salvage the economy.

“Unfortunately, no credible remedial plans have been put forward by the government to salvage the economy and there is the need to urgently organise forums for the best brains in the country to arrest the situation,” he stressed.

The former president thus suggested that the government should urgently organize series of forums on the economy for the best brains in the country to arrest the situation, adding that “a national dialogue on the economy, bringing some of our best brains together will serve us well, even as we prepare for debt restructuring and negotiation of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme”.

In a statement issued Standard and Poor (S&P) Global Ratings indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has worsened Ghana’s fiscal and external imbalances and on August 5, 2022, it downgraded Ghana’s foreign and local credit ratings from B-B’ to CCC C with a negative economic outlook which was due to intensifying financing and external pressures on the economy.

It noted that though the government had taken steps towards consolidating the fiscal deficit, including the recent passage of the Exemptions Bill, high borrowing costs and softening growth made it difficult to put debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the path of downward.

The statement also reviewed the country’s economic outlook as negative after careful assessment of the economy which reflected Ghana’s limited commercial financing options, and constrained external and fiscal buffers.

According to Former President Mahama the continuous depreciation of the Cedi showed the mid-year budget review failed to achieve its intended purpose, investors still did not have confidence in the economy and had resulted in the economy being downgraded further.  

He pointed out that there appeared to be no end to the problems with the economy, with recent downgrade to CCC /C Junk status and steep depreciation of Cedi in recent days, clearly showed the mid-year review of 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy failed to win back confidence of investor community and Ghanaians. 

A situation, former President Mahama maintained, the government had no idea of addressing for betterment of the people.

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