Ken Ofori-Atta
Since the mid-year review of the financial statement of the government for 2023, the prophets of doom or the carriers of “aforku nya” will not spare us their so-called independent analysis of the state of the economy.
The opposition NDC and their allies in the media, academia and civil society groups as well as economic analysts have occupied the media space trying to convince Ghanaians that the country is headed for recession if not in that deep crisis already.
We have always insisted that those who should know better but have elected to be megaphones of the NDC for regime-change will sooner than later find out their nakedness in the public space.
To say that our economy is in crisis is to state the obvious, but to constantly tell Ghanaians to expect hard times ahead without suggesting the way out exposes the critics as NDC propagandists masquerading as economic analysts and independent journalists.
We are always amazed at the depth of their analysis without taking into account the hit that major economies in Europe and America are also facing. They are quick to point to the high cost of living, citing high food prices as signs that the economy is in crisis.
Unfortunately, those who make those ugly noises do not understand the dynamics in the agricultural food chain. The country has just entered the harvesting season of the farming season in the southern part of the country, and the food basket in the consumer price index will be an enabler for high inflation.
Perhaps because some of those analysts have not experienced the farming life they speak from uninformed background to cause fear and panic. From time immemorial, food prices start inching up from about April to August before the major harvest when there is a steady decline in prices until about October when there is a further drop when farmers in the north also begin the harvesting of their produce.
For about two years now, the rains have been erratic and, therefore, not aiding the farmers to get good yields out of their toils.
And when that happens, food prices soar on the market, but that is enough for the prophets of doom to predict that there is danger ahead. We should be concerned about high cost of living, but when pragmatic measures are put in place, food crisis can be averted.
The naysayers were armed with more ammunition to attack the government when it was revealed that the Bank of Ghana has taken a big hit as a result of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
These opponents of the government, in their commentaries, make it sound as if the NPP government are bad managers of the economy in order to equalise President Akufo-Addo’s record with the abysmal performance of John Mahama from 2012 to 2016 when he was booted out of power.
In their commentaries, they will not mention the exogenous factors accounting for the situation and the fact that central banks in advanced economies are wobbling as a result of the global economic crunch.
However, it will not be good enough for the government to fold its arms and decide not to put in the measures to salvage the situation. It is also true that no economy anywhere in the world booms without the active participation of the citizens.