Govt should begin to think of 'Coronavirus Bailout' for businesses to avert recession - Ricketts-Hagan

Former Deputy Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for Cape Coast South, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan has welcomed the government efforts so far in handling the deadly Covid-19 coronavirus disease and has encouraged the government to be truthful and transparent with the people in every step of the way to control the spread of the virus until a vaccine is found, hopefully, later in the year.

However, he has questioned the $100 million that the government said it has allocated to combat the coronavirus, without specifying what the money will go towards. He also added that the government needs a “coronavirus cash bailout” for small, medium and large businesses that would be severely affected - such as tourism, travel, hospitality, conferences, entertainment, etc., to support and help them to stay afloat and avoid massive layoffs.

Commenting to the media after Ken Ofori-Atta statement on the COVID 19 pandemic, he said “The Finance Minister’s response to Parliament on the matter was inadequate, though I agree that the events of the coronavirus are still unfolding and may still be too early to tell just how far-reaching the effects will be. But it is also abundantly clear from what is going on around the world that the outbreak is already having a major impact on the global economy and invariably Ghana’s economy.”



“This is not only going to affect negatively on a few sectors of the economy as the Finance Minister is alluding to, but rather consume the whole economy negatively and possibly send us into a severe long recession because this crisis is being predicted to be bigger than the global financial crisis of 2008, therefore the government needs to get to grips with things and anticipate what is likely to happen very quickly, and start putting serious recovery plan and preparation in place now, to try and protect early, the economic and financial shocks that will be felt for a long time even when the medical recovery has begun”

He said it is not enough to be talking about closing possible financing gaps in the 2020 Budget or addressing the fiscal implications, the whole Economic Management Team (EMT) machinery, which includes the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Ghana, all the economic Ministries including Trade and industry and Employment will need to up their game and put more radical measures in place to help the economy, because these are extraordinary times. We are going to need a massive fiscal and monetary response in addition to a mega stimulus package for businesses to weather the storm and limit the economic impact from this global coronavirus outbreak.