Government not showing commitment to save ailing economy – Clement Apaak

Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak has said the current administration has not demonstrated commitment to save the ailing Ghanaian economy.

According to him, the government has also failed to take steps geared at telling Ghanaians the kind of sacrifice appointees are making to cut down on expenditure.

“You are keeping multiple ministers at various ministries, you are keeping thousands of presidential staffers. You are keeping multiple CEOs and yet you say individual bond holders have little money they have kept for their retirement, daily feeding, medical and paying fees for their ward. That’s the money you are targeting," he said.

“How do you expect them to agree to such an arrangement, so what is happening is a direct result of the government’s recklessness. Because the people are aware that this government is not sacrificing so if you are not sacrificing why are you telling pensioners 75-years-old that he or she should sacrifice and die. Because the government could not manage things well. How can you accept that?” Mr. Apaak queried.

He continued: “The government is not living by example and until they do that Ghanaians will continue to resist this draconia attempt to try to rob members of the Ghanaians society to pay for a conundrum and debt that you have needlessly brought on.”

The Builsa South lawmaker further expressed worry over why “the government has not demonstrated any seriousness in terms of cutting on itself and public expenditure.”

Meanwhile, Fitch has predicted that the Ghanaian economy may weaken further in 2023

“We at Fitch Solutions forecast real GDP growth in Ghana to slow to 2.9% in 2023, from an estimated 3.3% in 2022. Data released by Ghana Statistical Service shows that real GDP growth weakened significantly in Q322, to 2.9% y-o-y, from 4.7% in Q222.

“While the mining sector recorded robust growth of 14.9%, a 7.4% contraction in the manufacturing sector and a 7.0% decline in the construction industry weighed on overall economic activity. Given strong price pressures – inflation averaged 48.3% in Q422 – and weak private sector sentiment (see chart below), we believe that economic activity will have slowed further in Q422, informing our estimate that real GDP growth fell well below its five-year pre-pandemic average of 5.3% in 2022.”