Ghana In Huge Economic Mess - Bawumia

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has expressed worry about the huge economic mess that the incumbent government has caused for successive administrations. According to the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has managed the economy so poorly that it was on a historical downward spiral. Speaking on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM Wednesday, Dr Bawumia noted that the poor handling of the country’s economy forced the government to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Ghana reached an agreement with the IMF in April 2015 for a three-year aid deal worth about $918 aimed at restoring fiscal stability to the country.

Touching on the IMF bailout, Dr. Bawumia noted that there are several flaws in the deal because it failed to address several key issues affecting the country’s economy. He explained that “if you look at the current IMF programme that this government is engaged in, there is a big hole in that programme. There is a problem that this programme hasn’t addressed because they have allowed the debt-to-GDP ratio to be increased whilst they are thinking that they are doing fiscal consolidation.” “It’s really unbelievable when I look at it and I really question the design. It’s not surprising to me that this economy isn’t working,” Dr Bawumi stressed.

 “If you see the quality of fiscal consolidation during our time and the one here, it’s like night and day. Because when we had fiscal consolidation under HIPIC, you had inflation coming down, growth going up, interest rates coming down, the private sector being crowded in and unemployment coming down. That is what you expect to see.”

Dr Bawumia said there is a clear problem currently because debt is going up, interest rates are going up, growth is coming down, inflation is going up. There is very little confidence in the economy currently, and the NPP will put in measures to ensure fiscal discipline to salvage the economy, the Vice Presidential candidate of the NPP added. He was, however, confident that the NPP will salvage the country’s wobbling economy in 2017 when it captures power.