Source: Onuaonline.com
Former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, says government cannot pride itself for turning the corner when it is judging the performance of the economy with its primary balance.
He asserts the positive outlook the government is touting itself with comes as a result of failure to settle its creditors.
The Tamale South lawmaker says the government’s GH5.9billion primary balance cannot offset its GHC10.5billion debt, the reason this administration cannot praise itself for turning the corner.
The Member of Parliament who was speaking at Kambatiak in the Bunkpurugu constituency as part of the flag bearer of the NDC’s ‘Building Ghana Tour’, indicated that the government has been badly exposed especially when it is finding it difficult to sign an MoU with its external creditors to process its bailout with the International Monetary Fund.
“When Dr. Bawumia and Akufo-Addo say they’ve turn the corner, how can you turn the corner when you don’t have a final signed memorandum of understanding with your external creditors? How can you turn the corner when you need 10.5 billion to service your debt then you leave 5.9billion in your primary balance and say we should praise you? No! For us we are looking at your deficit; expenditure vs revenue.
“Not because you’re not paying your debt then you say your reserves are doing good. When you start paying the debt the reserves cannot look good. Therefore don’t judge this economy with the performance of your primary balance. So the Dagombas say that, when you build your house with saliva, it collapses with dew,” he cautioned.
WE’VE NOT TURNED THE CORNER – MAHAMA REJECTS OFORI-ATTA’S ASSERTION
Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta gave seven (7) point bulletins affirming that government has “turned the corner” with regards to restoring the economy to its glory days.
During the presentation of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government in Parliament Wednesday, November 15, 2023, he said the measures put in place by the government in changing the narrative resulted in the successes chalked to turn things around.
“Mr. Speaker, in the Mid-Year Review, I informed this House that we had started turning the corner. Today, it is evident that:
i. We turned the corner when inflation started declining from 54.1 percent in December 2022 to 35.2 percent in October 2023;
ii. We turned the corner when, despite a 1.5 percent projected growth, the economy galloped at a remarkable pace, and clocked an average of 3.2 percent growth in the first two quarters of the year;
iii. We turned the corner when the currency, which had been under severe pressure over the past two years, depreciated by a modest 6.4 percent cumulatively from February to date, compared to 53.9 percent over the same period in 2022. The performance of the Cedi is also a reflection of the fact that confidence is back, revenues have improved, and that the recovery is indeed real and is here to stay;
iv. We turned the corner when companies started going back to the job markets to hire workers;
v. We turned the corner when the International credit rating agencies, which have not been favourable to Ghana in recent years, started being positive about our economy; and
vi. We turned the corner when the Banking industry started to record and report a profit-after-tax growth of 43.8 percent (GH¢6.2 billion);
vii. We turned the corner when in record time we completed the IMF 1st Staff Review of 6 Performance Criteria, 3 Indicative Targets and 3 Structural Benchmarks,” he read out in Parliament.
Source: www.onuaonline.com
