Economic crisis: Mahama calls for national dialogue

Constituency

In wake of Ghana’s recent downgrade of its foreign and local credit ratings from B-B to CCC+C, former President John Mahama has called for an urgent national dialogue on the economy.

Such a move, he said, will help save the ailing Ghanaian economy, and its debilitating effects on Ghanaians.

He explained that national dialogue will bring together some of the best brains in the country to find solutions to Ghana’s growing economic woes.

In a Facebook post, Mr. Dramani Mahama said: “There appears to be no end to the problems with the Ghanaian economy, with the recent downgrade to CCC+/C Junk status.”

According to him, the steep depreciation of the Ghana Cedi showed clearly that the mid-year review of the 2022 budget failed to win back the confidence of the investor community and the Ghanaian public.

“Unfortunately, no credible remedial plans have been put forward by the government to salvage the economy,” he bemoaned.

S&P indicated that the downgrade was due to intensifying financing and external pressures on the Ghanaian economy.

And before S&P’s downgrade, Fitch had already downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘B-‘ from ‘B’ and handed it a negative outlook.

Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) also downgraded Ghana’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to Caa1 from B3 and changed the outlook to stable from negative.

The Finance Ministry has, already, expressed disappointment at the credit rating agency’s decision.

It says despite the impact of global external shocks on the economy, government has taken some proactive measures to revive the economy.

It said some key revenue and expenditure measures, including the 30% cut in discretionary expenditures, have been implemented.

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is upbeat that Ghana’s economy will bounce back, despite recent challenges.

He said, although he admits times are difficult, the economic situation of the country will turn around shortly.

“Yes, the difficulties are there, and I want to minimize the difficulties that are affecting the lives of ordinary people in a very negative way. What I am saying to the people of Ghana is that, they should continue to have confidence,” the President said.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.