Terkper wrong person to turn economy around – Casely-Hayford

Ghana’s Finance Minister Seth Terkper is the wrong person to turn the country’s ailing economy around, this is according to financial analyst, Sidney Casely-Hayford.

Terkper has on several occasions come under severe pressure to quit his post for plunging Ghana’s economy into crisis.

Some critics called on him to resign after the Cocoa producing nation had to resort to the International Monetary fund for a 918 million dollar financial bailout.

Ghana recently issued a fourth Eurobond which was over-subscribed with orders exceeding US$2 billion, compared to a target of US$1 billion.

A release by the Finance Ministry stated that Ghana would issue its fourth Eurobond of US$1 billion at a coupon rate of 10.75 per cent.

Speaking on Citi FM’s Saturday current affairs programme ‘The Big Issue’, Casely-Hayford said Mr. Terkper’s poor record as Finance Minister in the last three years is a clear indication that he cannot halt the country’s deteriorating economy.

“Is Seth Terkper the right person to turn Ghana’s economy around? No,” Casely-Hayford told host Richard Sky adding "they [NDC] took an economy in 2009 that wasn’t doing too bad...they complained there was no cash, they went to the IMF and took some money and so they fixed the loophole".

Casely-Hayford added “In 2010 they [NDC] said they had turned the economy around…so he [Terkper] took an economy that wasn’t too bad and has brought us to a point where we are HIPC again and looking at the record, it is a poor one.”