The National Democratic Congress (NDC), despite its small-sized cabinet, delivered efficiently and competently managed the economy of Ghana for the betterment of every citizen, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo has said.
According to him, the NDC, regardless of the terrible state the economy was plunged into during their term in office, didn’t need a huge number of cabinet members to resolve the issues, just a few learned persons with the requisite knowledge on how to right the wrongs and bring the economy back on track.
“I want you to understand that the NDC left an economy that had gone through serious challenges from the global volatility that we faced and if you understand that and you look at what we achieved in the context of those difficulties and where we are in 2017 where we have handed over an economy that has recovered from the challenges of the global economy, then you’ll understand that we didn’t have to use 110 men. We used fewer, smarter, intelligent people to manage this economy.”
The fall in oil prices and inconsistencies in prices of commodities like gold and cocoa he said threatened the stability of the country’s economy. Finance Minister at the time; Seth Terkper’s intervention in the situation according to him, is what ‘saved the day’.
“Between 2015 and 2016, particularly in 2015, you will recall that a few months after the delivery of the budget and through the implementation in the first few months of 2015, our economy was suddenly faced with the reality that oil prices were tumbling and as a result even before we started, the economy was going to lose 700 million dollars from oil productivity alone. Even before we could start, we were faced with the reality that gold and cocoa prices were tumbling and as a country we were unlikely to have a stable economy that could support our aspirations in the budget.”
“ The Minister of Finance at the time did one of the most important and critical things that never happened, he was to deliver a policy statement on the floor of the house to address the whole nation as to the reality of our economic circumstances. That policy statement formed the basis for Ghana to review the Petroleum Revenue Management act in order to incorporate changes that allow us to have a much more market related benchmark of oil prices. Today we don’t talk about oil prices in terms of negativity, we talk of it in positives.”
