Advisor to Minister of Finance to address national development forum

Dr Yaw Ansu, the Chief Economist, Africa Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) and Advisor to the Minister of Finance, will on Wednesday, July 28, deliver the keynote address at the Eleventh national development forum.

A statement issued by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC)and made available to the Ghana News Agency, said the forum would be chaired by Professor Emeritus Stephen Adei, the Chairman of the NDPC.

The forum is on the theme: “Ghana’s Development Response to COVID-19 Pandemic: Building Resilience Against Hazards.”

It said there would be panellists contributions from Nana Osei Bonsu, the Chief Executive Officer of Private Enterprise Federation and Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Acting Dean, International Programmes University of Ghana.

The statement said the outbreak of COVID-19, a health pandemic had affected many facets of Ghanaian lives, including social, educational and economic.

"In sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana is noted as the third most impacted country from the virus," it said.

"According to the Ministry of Finance, it was projected that Ghana’s real GDP growth rate would decline from 6.8 percent to 2.6 percent, in the event of infected cases and 1.5 percent in the event of a partial lockdown."

It noted that since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Government had made important interventions to contain the virus and to sustain the gains chalked from its management of the national economy.

It said these interventions include a three-week lockdown of movement of persons in major urban economic areas, ban on gatherings to a certain degree, border closure, stimulus package for struggling businesses and social distancing protocols.

The statement said although the Government’s response had tapered the daunting effect of the virus on productivity growth and sustainable livelihoods, the nation must go beyond the short-term mitigation measures towards recovery and resilience of the economy, in the shortest possible time.

It said the Commission would, therefore, engage a panel of experts to deliberate and also solicit public views on Ghana’s developmental recovery to the COVID-19 pandemic and how to build resilience against future hazards to inform policy direction that would place the country firmly on the path of sustained development.