Dr Randy Abbey, the host of Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV, had to pull the brakes on a debate with Richard Ahiagbah, the National Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party, on the claim by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, that Ghana’s economy is on an upward trajectory due to what he considers to be the failure of Ahiagbah to answer a question he asked.
Dr Randy Abbey on the Thursday, August 4, 2023, edition of his show, questioned why the Finance Minister will make such a claim when the metrics set by his ministry for the measurement of economic success in the 2023 budget have been reviewed downwards.
Dr Abbey shuddered to understand why it is possible to arrive at such a conclusion when Ken Ofori-Atta had indicated that due to external factors, he had to review the economic indices.
“I’m just saying that there are indices that we have projected to meet and we were fully aware of the global climate and our domestic situation and we made projections believing that once we meet those projections, our economy will rebound. The Finance Minister comes to Parliament and revises almost all of these ones downwards yet he says we’ve turned the curve. That’s what I want to understand,” he told Richard Ahiagbah.
Richard Ahiagbah however explained that the review of the projections had to be done largely due to a reduction in the global pricing of crude oil. According to him, the reduction affected the projections made by the government.
“He is saying we’ve turned the corner now, he is not talking about turning the curve tomorrow. He has given you the indicators for where we are now and then told you that going forward, given the conditions on the market I see the price of a barrel of crude oil going down.
“That is a major revenue earner for us and because that is going down, we are revising our estimated position which was supposed to be 2.8% at the end of this fiscal year to 1.5%. I don’t see the confusion here,” Ahiagbah said.
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Dr. Abbey expressed agreement with Ahiagbah but questioned the soundness of the conclusion by the Finance Minister.
Dr Randy Abbey was confused as to how one can make conclusions about achieving a target when he’s had to review the conditions necessary for the attainment of those targets.
“I have no disagreement with the analysis you are making. There is a budget for this year and we expect that we will end the year at ABCDEF and that the Finance Minister told us will be the path towards the rebound.
“When he presented the budget, he said that we’ll reach this and once we reach it, it will be the path towards recovery. Now in the mid-year review he comes to say that for all the reasons you have enumerated, we will not be able to meet all those targets that we set for ourselves which we believe will constitute the recovery and therefore we are revising them downwards yet he is saying that we are turning the cover. That’s what I want to understand,” Dr Randy Abbey quizzed.
But Richard Ahiagbah rebutted, emphasizing the earlier point he made that “the revision, part of which is due to the reduction in the price of crude on the market, do you blame Ken Ofori-Atta?
His comment did not excite Dr. Randy Abbey who jabbed him, saying “You are not addressing the issue.”
What Ken Ofori-Atta said
Presenting the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review of the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to parliament in Accra, Mr. Ofori-Atta expressed confidence that the economy is on its way to full recover – which will pave the way for greater economic activity.
“We have turned the corner and, more importantly, we are determined to continue down that path. Soon, we expect the measures taken to result in economic activity greater than anything experienced in the history of the Fourth Republic. Our plans and programmes should soon lead to a sustained increase in domestic production, including manufacturing and farming; replacing many of the products that we are used to importing,” said Ofori-Atta.
Reflecting on the challenges faced in 2022, Ofori-Atta acknowledged the difficult but necessary decision to seek support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to implement the Post-COVID-19 Programme of Economic Growth (PC-PEG).
KPE/DA
