Economic crunch: Sell off non-profit State-Owned Enterprises – Kwame Pianim tells government

Government admidst challenging economic times

Bawumia assures of strong fundamentals to deal with economic downturn

Parliament passes E-levy to address revenue challenge

Renowned economist, Kwame Pianim, has urged the government to sell off non-profit state-owned enterprises involved in the production of non-essential goods and services.

According to him, this is to afford the government the opportunity to reduce expenditure amidst the recent economic downturn.

Kwame Pianim was speaking on the topic ‘Is Ghana’s macro-environment an enabler or hammer to attracting investment?’ at an event in Accra.

“First of all, the government must begin looking at cost-cutting measures to reduce its expenditure; and an area to look at is the state-owned enterprises (SOEs). SOEs that are involved in the production of non-essential goods and services but are not making any profit should be sold-off so that the public sector becomes small,” news portal thebftonline.com quoted Kwame Pianim as saying.

The economy in recent times has experienced a downward spiral with economists pointing to the fast depreciating Cedi and general increase in the cost of living to back their claim.

At a recent public lecture on April 7, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia blamed the economic woes on the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

He however assured that the government has put in place measures to mitigate the impact of such external factors.



Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown here