Akufo-Addo lifting of partial lockdown economic, scientific - Dr. Lord Mensah

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his scientific team took the best possible decision to salvage the Ghanaian economy from suffering whilst ensuring people’s economic livelihoods are not wreck, an economist has said.

“Looking at our economic structure which is more informal that is people survive on daily basis, how they move from one point to another, it tells you that if you don’t take care and you use a model in America for Ghana you end up having the lockdown or the measures to curb the virus rather having more impact on the people than the virus itself”, Economist and Finance Lecturer, Dr. Lord Mensah said.

Continuing, he said “I was reading a research and it gave me a signal that sometimes in a pandemic like this the measures that are being put in place to ensure that they hold up the virus rather comes to have more impact on the people than the virus itself.

“And I believe that the President and his scientific team looked at all this and they’ve realized that if we don’t take care this measure which is the lockdown is rather having more impact on the economy than the virus itself and that is why possibly the President soften his stance yesterday.”

The announcement of the lifting of the partial lockdown has created mixed reactions from a cross-section of Ghanaians.

But the University of Ghana Business School Lecturer believes the decision by the President was the probable the best way to go, arguing that the structure of the Ghanaian economy is different from the western economies which they can cope with the lockdown.

On the downgrade of the Ghanaian economy, he told Joy TV that many more countries will also be downgraded because of the current development in the global economy. Already, South Africa’s economy has been downgraded.

“It is very important to have these ratings because the situation on the grounds in the first quarter of the year is completely different from the situation, we find ourselves now, and the possible the outlook going forward.”

Further, he said “Looking at what is happening, there is a tendency that our [Ghana] debt service will become a problem going forward. What we rely on to generate revenue in Ghana, possibly we might rely on exports but petroleum prices have drop drastically to about the lowest in 30 years.

“Looking in house, taxes that are to be generated the prospects is bad. Effectively, any ratings agency that relies on this input will downgrade your economy; it’s not only Ghana alone, a lot of countries will have their credit ratings downgraded.