The Communications Officer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has called out the government on its continuous reliance on external factors, such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic, as excuses for Ghana's economic challenges.
According to him, these acts by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are unacceptable, they are disgusting, and they must stop and desist from it.
The comments by Sammy Gyamfi come on the back of the government’s continued blame on the Russia-Ukraine war and Covid as the major factors that have disrupted the economy of Ghana.
While presenting the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review in parliament on July 31, 2023, the Finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta referred to these factors as a major setback in Ghana’s economic progress.
However, making an appearance on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana, Sammy Gyamfi disagreed with this stance by the government.
He emphasised that while the global impacts of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war are undeniable, their effects have varied among countries, and Ghana's economic struggles are not solely a result of these external factors.
“The excuse our brothers in the NPP continues to make for the economic catastrophe we have on our hands and the hardship we are going through, are totally unacceptable, they are disgusting, and they must stop and desist from that.
“Look nobody is saying that covid, the Russia-Ukraine war have not affected Ghana, nobody has said that, and nobody is going to say that. Covid is an exogenous factor, a global factor which has affected all the nations of the world. But it has affected different countries differently. It has brought some countries to their knees. In other words, it has given some countries fever but it has put other countries in a coma. For other countries it has even killed them completely,” he said.
Sammy Gyamfi argued other nations facing similar challenges have managed their economies more effectively.
“The difference in the impact of these external factors on these counties is based on three things. Whether those counties have strong economies before covid struck them. Whether they had the buffers to withstand headwinds before covid struck them. How covid was managed, how the economy was managed in the midst of covid.
“So, you realise that when you pick something like inflation, yes covid has affected all the countries in Africa but Ghana has the worse inflations figure, the third worst. In fact, the worst in the whole of West Africa and the third west in the whole of Africa. Out of 54 countries, why is it that inflation in some African countries is hovering around 5% and 6% despite suffering from Covid? But we are recording 42.5%,” he continued.
Explaining further, the communications officer, questioned the country’s economic strength before the pandemic.
He pointed to increasing debt levels and deficit percentages as indicators of financial vulnerability before COVID-19 struck.
“How come none of these African countries have defaulted on their debt obligations? How come none of these African countries has defaulted on their debt obligations, they have not lost access to the capital market. They have not been downgraded to super junk status of D. How come they are not restructuring,” he asked.
To him, nations with stronger economies, better financial buffers and prudent management have been able to get out of the woods effectively.
“It’s because their economies were stronger than Ghana before the covid struck and that is supported by the facts. Before covid struck, our debt to GDP had increased from 56% under President Mahama in 2016 to 63% in 2019, there was not covid.
“If you added hidden debts, ESLA, Daakye and the rest, the debt to GDP had hit 70% before covid struck. Again before COVID struck, the deficit we recorded of 6.1% in 2016 that they said we were reckless in spending on the 2016 elections that is what led to the 6.1% of GDP and passed a law that they will never exceed 5% said they were going to be responsible and live within their means and spend what they have, before Covid the deficit for 2019 was 7.5%. meaning that we were already being reckless and living out of our means,” he added.
NW/OGB
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Communications Officer for the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi