A Lecturer and Consultant at the Ghana Communications and Technology University, Isaiah Sikayenah says the impact of Covid -19 on the Ghanaian economy cannot be entirely written off as stated by a section of the public.
According to him, the economy has been affected by both internal and external factors which include the covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War.
He explained that during the pandemic, the two major cities in Ghana, Accra and Kumasi which top revenue generation were shut down.
Mr Sikayenah was of the view that the closure of both cities meant that the Government lost so much revenue.
He also observed that a lot of companies or jobs went down and so one cannot write off the impact of Covid-19 on the economy entirely.
He made the comments at a forum dubbed,’Can Ghana Survive a no IMF Deal’, on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie with Ama Gyenfa Ofosu Darkwa.
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Despite the funds raised by the Ghanaian Government during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has blamed the covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war for the country’s economic woes.
A section of the public have also argued that aside taking lives, the pandemic rather brought money to the country.
Mr Sikayenah, however, observed that the impact of the Covid was not much on certain robust economies because they had shocks.
“As a result of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the price of petroleum has increased. In a sense, it has had an effect on food prices, particularly those of basic materials imported from Russia and Ukraine. We were all affected by the covid-19 pandemic, but when you compare our economies to theirs, you can see that they were not as severely affected, which demonstrates that we did not manage our domestic affairs well,” he said.
He continued, “When you consider where our debt level was prior to the arrival of the covid, as well as the fact that our fiscal deficit increases every year, it should be clear that Ghana cannot withstand an external shock.”
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
