Economists are the cause of Africa’s Poverty

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• The mask 11 years ago

  The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has no Eastern Regional headoffice. The BOG must ask for land from the King of Akyem (Okyehene) to construct this building. I don´t believe that the BOG has accurate data on the economic activity in t ...
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  The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has no Eastern Regional headoffice. The BOG must ask for land from the King of Akyem (Okyehene) to construct this building. I don´t believe that the BOG has accurate data on the economic activity in the at least 12 Akyem districts which make up more than half the population on the region. The GDP and GNI of these Akyem districts are very high. They stem from:
  
  Gold mining
  Diamond mining
  Cocoa
  Oil Palm (the largest in West Africa)
  Timber
  Software development
  etc
  
  The money supply and capital in the at least 12 Akyem districts are wholly inadequate. BOG must remove impediments to the setting up of rural banks in these districts and encourage ADB and GCB to open branches in these districts.
  
  The government must further ensure that wholly owned Ghanaian banks, including rural banks, get at least 80% of the banking revenue.

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• Ghfuo: hang nyantakyi, NOW!!! 11 years ago

  Book: "Bad Debt" by Dambisa Moyo
  Every economist, African leader, finance minister must read this book!
  Book: "why nations fail": an abundance of natural resources is a national curse!
  These nations with natural resource w ...
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  Book: "Bad Debt" by Dambisa Moyo
  Every economist, African leader, finance minister must read this book!
  Book: "why nations fail": an abundance of natural resources is a national curse!
  These nations with natural resource wealth on average have worse financial economies than nations who don't. Why you ask? Weak institutions, corruption, bad governors, managers!
  Ghana Sovereign Wealth Fund by Martin Skankar.....Norwegian Ministry of Finance
  What is "Dutch Disease"?
  A percentage of proceeds from oil, gold, diamonds, cocoa revenues etc should be deposited yearly in a Ghana Sovereign Wealth Fund account, a national 401k. This money will never be touched by any govt, period! This money will be invested all over the world in socially constructive projects. Projects to be excluded can include chemical nuclear projects, environmentally disastrous projects, product based exclusions, tobacco, walmart(human rights abuses). The ROI from this fund will be used to supplement infrastructure projects. Is Ghana a cursed, weak institution? Yes, I agree whole heartedly!

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• G. K. Berko 11 years ago

  Our Economists largely play to the choir of the Developed World to earn useless recognition and secure jobs abroad when necessary.
  
  Most of the time, their analyses on our Economic performance and activities ignore the bas ...
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  Our Economists largely play to the choir of the Developed World to earn useless recognition and secure jobs abroad when necessary.
  
  Most of the time, their analyses on our Economic performance and activities ignore the basic economic interactions in our Society and dwell solely on the Macroeconomic outlook of a short, transient period.
  
  I remember how a few of the brilliant Economists tried to draw the contrasts between what the real Economic situation was in the Country during the 70s and 80s, and what the larger group using established signals were portraying to the outside World.
  
  Even at the height of our 'Kalabule' days when our Macroeconomic outlook was bleak, those few Economists could intelligently discern a thriving, bustling economic environment that they wish our Officials could pay more attention to and gather relevant information from to help reform the structures within which we allocate resources and report progress on.
  
  Given that such 'background economics' is what most of the people interact within, all around the Country, the population sample from which indicators are pulled to formulate a Macroeconomic outlook tend to be too small, and not fairly representative.
  
  A case in point is the long existing micro-finance entities we locally refer to as 'Susu'. These entities thrived and played a hugely significant intimate integral role in the lives of most productive individuals, majority of whom did not even have any Account with the established Banks.
  
  Money circulated and savings were generated through the 'Susu' that enabled individuals to accomplish various projects. While the normal Banks denied most folks access to credit, these folks could rely on the 'Susu' facilities to expand productivity and invest in projects of all kinds, from Business to property acquisition.
  
  If it had not been for Dr. Mohammed from Bangladesh who dared give similar phenomenon in his country the necessary exposure and recognition and helped to formalize it, we would still be downplaying the significance of micro-finance in Ghana today.
  
  However, it is an understatement to assert that Macroeconomics only present to the World what Microeconomics offer in each Country. And the very direct economic interactions among the people provide the elements of microeconomics Economists care for in their analyses.
  
  We therefore have to pay closer attention to much of the long ignored but most significant interactions and indicators to help us better manage our Economic System, rather than gather some superficial indicators to satisfy the expectations of the Developed Nations and their conveniently established Institutions that manipulate our fate.
  
  Long Live Ghana!!!

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• KWAME KWAME 11 years ago

  Development Partners and the Donor community that have been trying for so many years help Africa fight poverty themselves have realized that their policies towards poverty alleviation and enhancement of economic growth in Af ...
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  Development Partners and the Donor community that have been trying for so many years help Africa fight poverty themselves have realized that their policies towards poverty alleviation and enhancement of economic growth in Africa have not yielded the needed results.
  
  The new kid on the "economic development" block these days is INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT".
  
  Ghana Government must therefore ensure that the design of all future projects and programs for the country, financed by either the multilaterals, bilaterals or internally generated resources, address these two important dimensions so as to develop the country holistically, and not just implement projects that benefit only the privileged few the society. Our future project design must ensure the development and enhance the livelihoods of the most vulnerable groups including, women (all women), the youth and the disabled.

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• Paa Joe 11 years ago

  AFRICA AND GHANA DO NOT HAVE PRACTICAL ECONOMISTS.
  
  THEY ARE ONLY EDUCATED TO SERVICE EXPORT OF RAW MATERIALS AND BUYING AND SELLING.
  
  HENCE OUR CONTINUED BACKWARDNESS, UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND EXTREME POVERTY.

  AFRICA AND GHANA DO NOT HAVE PRACTICAL ECONOMISTS.
  
  THEY ARE ONLY EDUCATED TO SERVICE EXPORT OF RAW MATERIALS AND BUYING AND SELLING.
  
  HENCE OUR CONTINUED BACKWARDNESS, UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND EXTREME POVERTY.

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• MARCUS AMPADU 11 years ago

  As long as Africa's development is based on political economy that quintessentially reflects urban bias, the futures of the continent will forever be mired in self-imposed underdevelopment.
  
  The majority of the rural folks ...
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  As long as Africa's development is based on political economy that quintessentially reflects urban bias, the futures of the continent will forever be mired in self-imposed underdevelopment.
  
  The majority of the rural folks who make up the bulk of the population in Africa must be educated and given a voice.

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