John Kumah
A Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. John Ampontuah Kumah, has revealed that the government has a number of growth initiatives outside the fiscal space through the private sector and partnerships with Ghana’s development partners to ensure that the economy grows.
Commenting on the mid-year review of the 2023 Budget, he stated that while Ghana is compelled to perform consolidation and contractionary expectations of 1.5% under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, this does not mean the economy would not grow.
“The Minister spoke about growth strategies that even in these difficult times that we are talking about contractionary policy that will reduce our growth rate from 2.8% to 1.5%, we were still looking at growth strategies that will increase the growth performance,” he asserted.
He continued, “Indeed, we have projected downwards to do 1.5% but the reality is that the first quarter of this year, in this same mid-year budget as announced by the Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana’s economy grew by 4.2%.”
According to him, members of the Minority have plainly indicated that the administration has “turned the corner,” adding, “Indeed, their disappointment in not hearing that Ghana is still in a difficult situation is so glaring from their commentary.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am here to disappoint them the most because every information that was provided in the mid-year budget confirmed that we have turned the corner.
“The Finance Minister gave us hope and confidence that all the steps taken so far are leading Ghana to a restoration of microeconomic stability for faster recovery of the economy. That is their disappointment, but that is good news for our country,” Dr. Kumah said.
BoG GH¢80bn
In response to Isaac Adongo, NDC MP for Bolgatanga Central’s claim that the central bank had printed GH¢80 billion to fund government activities, the Deputy Finance Minister stated that the claim was based on deception and propaganda.
“Hon. Adongo talks about Bank of Ghana printing GH¢80 billion and when he read the audit report it said that Bank of Ghana investment in Government securities is GH¢80 billion, and I get surprised that my friend reads investment in securities to say printing of money.
“Where do you get this definition of printing money from? It is for politics and propaganda and you are courageous to tell the youth sitting here in this chamber that they have no hope because there is a loss of GH¢80 billion in the central bank?
“Do you understand what the central bank represents, and how it must relate to the running of the economy?” Dr. Kumah quizzed.
He said in June this year, the Congress of America had to increase the debt of the US to $33 trillion, noting, “They are even adding on more.”
“Today, as we speak, the public debt of Japan is 245% and you are talking about GH¢80 billion investment in securities because we did domestic debt exchange, and because of that the central bank is gone? Really?
“Is that your understanding of economics? I am very disappointed at such an argument,” he submitted.
“I just want to assure Ghanaians that what the Finance Minister presented to us is indeed a story of turnaround.
“He has shown us that all the indications are pointing in the right direction and even though we are not at our target yet, we are very hopeful that by the close of the year Ghana will have a positive story to tell,” he posited.
Minority
However, the NDC MP for Yapei Kusawgu, John Jinapor said, “From where we are going, I will not be surprised if during the main budget we move away or inclusive of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine, the conflict in Niger and Sudan will be contributing to the problems of Ghana.”
According to him, the bad policies of the government negated that $1 billion facility from the Korean government to Ghana.
He wants the Finance Minister to “eat humble pie and take suggestions” from the Minority.
“What corner have you turned? Let me give you (the Finance Minister) some evidence as well. And when you are doing comparison, you do industry-standard comparison. You compare yourself with your peers,” he submitted.
He said in sub-Saharan Africa, the average growth rate will be 3.6% but Ghana has projected to grow its economy by 1.5%.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House