In spite of President Akufo-Addo’s positive assessment of third-quarter growth, President-elect John Dramani Mahama has voiced concerns about the state of Ghana’s economy
Mahama emphasized the urgent need for energy sector reforms during a courtesy visit by the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council. He believes that if these reforms are not addressed, the progress made under the debt exchange program and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement could be derailed.
In addition to pointing out unsustainable commercial and technical losses of more than 32%, Mr. Mahama emphasized inefficiencies within the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
In order to increase efficiency and guarantee sustainable power delivery, he said that no utility business could thrive with such deficits and advocated for extensive reforms throughout the electricity value chain.
“The energy sector can derail everything that we’ve done with regard to the debt exchange and with regard to the IMF programme because the debts continue to pile up there.
“The ECG governance is in a very bad way, and so they are making commercial and technical losses of more than 32%. There’s no utility company that can survive with 32% commercial and technical losses and still continue to be a viable utility and so as quickly as possible, we need to do reforms, in the whole electricity value chain,” he said.
The President-elect also outlined broader economic priorities, including stabilizing the economy, reducing waste, and rationalizing taxes.
He stressed the importance of making Ghana a competitive destination for foreign investment by creating a more transparent and business-friendly tax regime to foster job creation for the youth.
“If we are to remain competitive, we must rationalize the taxes, make them more transparent, so that foreign investors feel attracted to come to our country, to come and set up businesses and industries so that we can get employment for our young people.”