GHANAIANS LAMENT OVER PRESIDENTS ECONOMIC ADDRESS

A large section of the Ghanaian population has expressed dissatisfaction regarding the president of Ghana’s economic address. H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who addressed the nation on Sunday, 30th October on the economic challenges the country is facing and possible solutions has been met with criticism from his people. 

Picture: President of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Over the space of 6 months, Ghanaians have embarked on strikes and several protests to show their displeasure towards the current state of the economy. Things however have gone from bad to worse as the cedi plunged to a new low against the dollar. Currently trading at Ghc 13 to $1, the cedi was ranked by Bloomberg as the worst-performing currency globally. 

In addressing the public, the president referenced the negative impact of Covid-19 and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as one of the major causes of the nation's woes. He added that in 2021, the economy recorded a growth of 5.4% and was expected to continue in the uptrend post-pandemic till the recent Russia-Ukraine war began causing a chain reaction the country and the world are suffering from.

According to the world bank, the ongoing war in Ukraine has dimmed prospects of a post-pandemic economic recovery for emerging and developing economies. While global prices for oil, gas, and coal have been rising since early 2021, they skyrocketed after Russia invaded Ukraine, sending inflation to levels not seen for decades in the region.

Picture: Ghanaians demonstrating against the government

In his speech, the president said, “We are in a crisis, I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time. But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems, but the long-term structural problems that have bedeviled our economy” he said.

Aside from the devastating effects of the war, the president attributed the sharp increase in the price of products to the high margins some traders have slapped on their goods for the fear of future price inflation. He also attributed the drop in the cedi to black market speculators who falsely predicted a haircut on government bonds triggering fear and panic in the financial markets

To help stabilize and boost the economy, the president vowed to flush out illegal operators in the black market and enhance supervision by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) on forex market operators. He added that the government will also partner with the BOG and the oil production and mining companies to ensure that all foreign exchange earned from operations in Ghana is initially paid to banks based in Ghana to help boost the domestic foreign exchange market.