Factor economic downturn into policymaking - Professor Elikplem

Professor Elikplim Komla Agbloyor, Associate Professor, Department of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School and Chairman of the Research Committee at Tesah Capital, has adjured the government to foresee the effects on the economy should there be any external or domestic shocks.

According to him, this will enable the government to create a more resilient economy that can sustain shocks. He quoted that “history of the financial crisis has it that once in every ten years there is a major financial crisis”.

Professor Elikplim Komla Agbloyor also noted that since both external and domestic crises are bound to happen, it will be of utmost importance to factor them into any national policymaking.

Speaking on GBC’s Uniiq Breakfast Drive, Professor Elikplim Komla proposed that one way to create a resilient economy is to increase our reserve level. This, he said, can be achieved by increasing the import cover from two-three months to eight-twelve months.

According to him, several countries have experienced external crises but have not suffered currency depreciation as witnessed in Ghana.

“Countries like Brazil and other African countries also suffer external shocks but their currencies did not depreciate as much as we are seeing in Ghana,” he cited.

The professor also mentioned that it is possible to determine the tendency of an economy to survive economic shocks.

“If you take a bank and there is an external shock that occurs once in 1,000 years, you ask if the bank can survive it. We can easily do this calculation, and so the government can check how wars or other external factors can affect its economy,” he said.