Professor Godfred Bokpin
An economist Professor Godfred Bokpin has observed that the Ghanaian economy is structured to benefit foreign investors more than locals regardless of how hard they work.
He says although growth appears to be registered in the books, it does not practically reflect in the outlook of the country.
“In this country, we are seen working hard enough just to put monies in the pockets of some foreign investors and this is because savings is relatively low. Growth is recorded in this country but unfortunately, there is no growth here in the country,” he told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Wednesday.
Prof. Bokpin who commended the managers of the economy following the over subscription of the latest Eurobond cautioned against the wasteful expenditure on the part of government.
“The Bond looks good for the stabilization of the cedi. Our International Reserves will increase because of this bond as well. Whether or not this bond will be sustainable is a discussion for another day. It is common knowledge today that we are exiting the IMF program successfully."
"I think the team has done a good work considering the roadshow. Looking at the rate at which we got the issue, it is fairly a good deal giving the fact that we are approaching elections 2020, given the fact that we are exiting the IMF program among others."
"We are a high risk debt interest country. Investors could have punished us because of that but have turned a blind eye to that. We shouldn’t forget that Private investors do not have Forgiveness of Debts in their books. It is important we (Ghana) consider how these debts will be paid,” he said.
Meanwhile, Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has said the most efficient way to stop the fall of the Cedi against international trading currencies is to ban the importation of products and goods produced in Ghana.
According to him, although such a measure will come will consequences it is the best approach in dealing with the perennial fall of the local currency.
The suggestion comes as the Cedi is beginning to see some gains after falling drastically against the dollar from February.
Some Ghanaians have blamed the fall on weak economic fundamentals despite the assurances from government.
Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Wednesday, Mr. Terkper urged managers of the economy to be cautious with the gains being achieved with the currency because it could be a “temporary relief”.
“The hardest decision you have to take is to ban imports of things you produce locally, but we are members of global trade associations and you can’t do that out rightly,” he said.
