'The West should hang its head in shame’ – Ofori-Atta on COVID-19 response

Ofori-Atta says measures employed by the West has worsened problems of poor countries

I don’t know why Moody’s was in a hurry to downgrade us, Ofori-Atta

World Bank says it gave Ghana US$430 million

The finance minister has said developed countries in the world should be ashamed overlooking the needs of poor countries in their financial plans

Read full articleto combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Ken Ofori-Atta, Western countries failed to hear the concerns of less developed countries like Ghana which has now worsened the economic challenges of these countries, the financial times (ft.com) reported.

Ofori-Atta indicated that poor countries had very little resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic while advanced countries had vast resources available to them, which is not the best because pandemics are global issues and thus require a global response.

“The west should hang its head in shame.

“There was a complete distance between the resources available and what was applied [beyond advanced economies] to a problem that was global,” the finance minister is reported to have told the financial times.

According to him, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) must come up with global financial architecture like the one set up after the 2nd World War, to ensure the world returns to normalcy.

On the downgrade of Ghana’s credit rates by Moody’s, he said the credit rating agency should have held on with its assessment in order to consider the prudent financial measures the government had taken in the 2022 budget including the reduction of its expenditure and the new taxes it is introducing.

“Moody’s was in a hurry to downgrade us, which is very, very costly [for borrowing]. Why could they not wait six months to evaluate [the budgetary measures]?” he questioned.

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Meanwhile, the World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Pierre Frank Laporte has revealed Ghana received a sum of US$430 million to fight the novel Coronavirus.

According to him, the money was initially directed at the various campaigns that sought to inform and educate Ghanaians on the safety protocols of COVID-19.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express, Laporte said, “we’ve provided US$430 million to Ghana to fight COVID-19. And this includes different activities including initially the communication campaign, the sensitization campaign, equipping labs, equipping new facilities to receive patients, to treat patients.”

View his Timepath below;