By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Minority Caucus in Parliament has revealed that Ghana’s Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta has deepened the country’s economic woes.
According to them, the Finance Minister’s claim that the country’s economy is on a turnaround is false.
Addressing members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) immediately after the minister’s presentation on the floor of the House, the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, explained that despite the Minister’s promising not to borrow, Ofori-Atta had borrowed 5.5 billion Ghana cedis from the T-Bill market in the first half of the year, with plans to borrow an additional 41 billion cedis later on.
This comes after the presentation of the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review in which Mr. Ofori-Atta, expressed optimism about Ghana’s economic recovery.
During his statement, the Finance Minister highlighted the progress made in the economy since seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He asserted that Ghana had “turned the corner” and was committed to continuing on that path.
According to him, the performance so far shows that, Ghana has turned the corner. But the Minority Leader in a sharp rebuttal pointed out evidence and the numbers before the house, showing us that he ( Ofori-Atta) has rather deepened our woes.
The Minority Leader also attributed the depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi to the government’s default in paying external interest and principal.
“I say this because he has said to us today that he’s revising economic growth from 2.8% of GDP to 1.5% of GDP. Again, he said to us here and now that he has borrowed 5.5 billion Ghana cedis from January to June, from the T-Bill market.
Not long ago, this same Minister informed us that he will not borrow at all in the year 2023. And that going into the remaining parts of the year, he is going to borrow another 41 billion Ghana cedis.
Aside from that, the Cedi depreciation we are seeing so far, it’s largely because we have defaulted in the payment of external interest and principal. That is why the cedi has depreciated,” he argued.
