Ken Ofori-Atta
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has indicated that 2022 was the most difficult economic year for him as Ghana’s Finance Minister, adding, “On July 1st 2022, we took what was then a very difficult but necessary decision to request support from the IMF to implement our Post-COVID-19 Programme of Economic Growth (PC-PEG).
“The country was going through a dire period of economic uncertainties and despondency,” he admitted, adding, “Our country, like many others globally, experienced unusually sharp increases in food, fertiliser and fuel prices, rising inflation and exchange rate depreciation, leading to severe economic challenges and hardships for the people.”
Presenting the mid-year review of the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, Mr. Ofori-Atta said, “A headline in the December 2022 edition of The Economist captured the global situation in these words: 2022 has been a year of brutal inflation.”
According to him, it is no exaggeration to say “we cannot find another period in our history where so many different headwinds hit our economy at the same time with unrelenting speed and scale.”
He, however, said thankfully, “as the numbers are beginning to show and as many Members of the House have indicated to me in our engagements, we have, together as a nation, turned the corner.”
“With a lot of effort, we have managed to avoid empty shop shelves for medicines and other essentials; we have seen no shortages of food; we have been spared the frustrating spectre of long queues for fuel at our filling stations; and, we have managed, in spite of all the challenges, to keep the lights on,” he intimated.
He stated that “this ‘turning the corner’ is underpinned by the investments and sacrifices we have collectively made during this difficult period since March, 2020.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is important that we acknowledge some of the major milestones that this country has experienced in the last 3 years.
“We should be still and appreciate that despite our challenges as a country, we have been saved from many extreme conditions that others have suffered, including peace, health, security, continuous supply of power, and life itself,” he said.
According to him, over that period, the country has gone through extremely difficult situations, while expressing the gratitude of the President and the government to Ghanaians for their patience, understanding and positive contributions to efforts to weather the storm.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House