The current economic crisis in Ghana, according to Cassiel Ato Forson, ranking member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, is the result of seven factors.
The Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam MP has repeatedly warned that the country’s dire situation will worsen unless the Akufo-Addo government commits to finding solutions to Ghana’s mounting economic challenges at a stakeholders’ forum.
In a Facebook post on Saturday (14 January), the former deputy finance minister pointed to the Akufo-Addo government’s size since taking office in 2017 as an example of how taxpayers’ money has been siphoned away.
He wrote in a Facebook post:
- The NPP has the largest size of government in the history of Ghana! Find out how many ministers they’ve appointed from 2017. At one point, they had over 125 ministers!
- This government has over 1,000 presidential staffers paid as article 71 officeholders at the jubilee House!
- They’ve also appointed so many special assistants to ministers with emoluments close to that of deputy ministers at the various MDAs.
Take also into consideration:
- The number of spokespersons at various MDAs paid above the pay of Directors!
- The number of CEOs at various State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) and their pay packages! Many of these SOEs now employ 3 or 4 deputy CEOs with fat conditions of service!
- The impact of the Over 50 new agencies with zero output, eg. CODA, NADA, MBDA, free SHS secretariat, 1D1F secretariat, Petroleum Hub Development Authority, Ghana cares Secretariat, etc.
- The unconscionable decision to send over 100 Databank staff to the Finance Ministry as special assistants and paid as customs commissioners on GRA’s payroll!
However, Ghana and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a staff-level agreement for US$3 billion in economic assistance
The authorities’ aggressive reform agenda aims to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while also protecting the vulnerable, preserving financial stability, and laying the groundwork for a strong and inclusive recovery.
The authorities have launched a comprehensive debt operation to support the goal of restoring public debt sustainability.
In addition to frontloaded fiscal consolidation and measures to reduce inflation and rebuild external buffers, the program envisions broad reforms to address structural weaknesses and improve shock resilience.
On the way forward for the country, Vice-President Bawumia said,
“unfortunately, judging from where we are today, there is no end in sight for the Russia-Ukraine war. While we hope for a quick end to the war, we must understand that things could get worse before they get better.”
Dr. Bawumia added that the immediate task for the country is to restore fiscal and debt sustainability – through revenue and expenditure measures and structural reforms, adding that “non-concessional borrowing should be curtailed to enhance debt sustainability.
