2021 budget has no sound policies to spur growth out of recession – Ricketts-Hagan

Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, the former Deputy Minister of Finance and the Member of Parliament for Cape Coast South Constituency has said the 2021 budget of President Nana Akufo-Addo has no robust policies to spur growth out of the pandemic induced recession.

He said the government has not yet got a full grasp of what is confronting the nation, in the way of a dire economic situation. "The prognosis on the economy made so far in the budget are inadequate and, in some instances, inaccurate. The economy pre-pandemic was on a life-support machine, kept alive by over-borrowing and exaggerated macro and fiscal figures. The COVID-19 pandemic, therefore, signified bad icing on an already bad cake.”

Commenting on the 2021 budget read on Friday, 12 March 2021 by Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah – Bonsu, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Majority leader and Leader of Government Business on the authority of the president. Mr Ricketts-Hagan said the economy was already in distress due to bad economic management and incompetent managers of the economy. “If it was just the impact of the pandemic, we should have fared better than we did. Other well-managed economies fared better. Our economy had its own hiccups that had nothing to do with the pandemic. So, to blame everything in the budget on the pandemic the way the government has done is ill-advised and will come back to haunt them.”

He said for the government to see its way and have a path to recovery, it must be capable of separating the impact of the pandemic on the economy from its own disastrous policies. He further said that it’s only then will the government be able to fashion out deliberate rescue strategies to deal with both the pandemic impact and bad policies on the economy.

“You cannot grow the economy from 0.9 per cent in 2020 to 5.0 per cent in 2021 with the ill-thought-out strategies presented in the budget. It’s woefully inadequate!”

2021 Budget

Presenting the 2021 Budget Statement in Parliament, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah–Bonsu said:

“Today, I stand here on his (The President) behalf to present to you, the state of the economy; how we have managed to mitigate and survive the pandemic and eke out a projected positive growth rate of 0.9 per cent in 2020 contrary to the initial fears of a negative growth rate as experienced elsewhere. I will also present to you deliberate and well thought out strategies that will hasten our recovery and place us on a confident path of sustained economic transformation.”

But Mr Ricketts-Hagan was not impressed with the Government’s strategies outlined in the budget.