Midyear Budget Review: Ken Ofori-Atta was truthful and factual - Economist

Economics Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Adu Owusu-Sarkodie, has opined that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta was truthful and factual with his presentation on Ghana’s Midyear Budget review.

On Monday, July 25, the Finance Minister delivered the 2022 mid-year budget on the floor of Parliament, highlighting the country’s expenditure for the first half of the year among other relevant issues.

According to the Dr Adu Owusu-Sarkodie, the mid-year budget review didn’t appear extraordinary as it followed the usual narration over the last couple of years before the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an interview with Samuel Eshun, host of e.tv Ghana’s ‘Fact Sheet Show’, the economist shared that the Finance Minister’s emphasis on global economic development and its recurring implications on Ghana’s economy proved realistic. He believes that the government has since admitted that the country’s economy is in shambles.

“Ken Ofori-Atta talked about the development in the global economy and how it’s affecting Ghana and revised accordingly the fiscal figures, revenue expenditure and also the macro figures, GDP, interest rate, inflation, exchange rate and all that,” he said.

He further indicated that despite the external effects of the global economy, Ghana’s economy is also endangered due to its internal challenges.

“He was quite realistic, truthful with the facts in the sense that he noted that the Ghanaian economy is suffering from what I call ‘The Three’; the effects of Covid, the impact of the war because we trade with those countries in fertilizers, iron ore, wheat name them. Farmers and producers are not getting all of these inputs for production. Lastly, we have our own internal problems. The exchange rate is a Ghanaian problem, the Producer Pricing Index (PPI) is very high and gives you a clear indication of Ghana’s own internal problems with regards to production, storage, transportation and marketing. So, from the point of production to the point of consumption there’s a problem. We’ve also seen how the free SHS policy barely makes feeding available to the students and all these things are not the impacts of Covid or war but our own internal problems,” he added.

However, the Minority caucus in Parliament has indicated that the Finance Minister failed to offer respite to Ghanaians and the business community during the budget review.

They said the minister stopped short of providing hope and a clear path of how the government intended to cushion the people against the rising cost of living, doing business and extreme poverty.

“With the mid-year review statement by the Minister of Finance, I cannot see any respite. I cannot see my way clearly and cannot see any hope for the suffering Ghanaian people who expected that today’s statement at least will offer them some respite because of the rising living and the rising cost of doing business ,” the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said.