Retaining Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister not a bad idea - Economist

An economist, Mr. Emmanuel Amoah-Darkwa has opined that he does not subscribe to the call for the appointment of a new Finance Minister.

He said governance is about continuity hence it would be prudent for him to continue to build on the foundation he started in the first term of the NPP.

He believes if someone is competent and trustworthy, he should be allowed to continue with his or her work than to appoint a new person.

He said one major thing that has affected Ghana is policy continuity, where we appoint people and remove them even when they are competent.

Ghana’s economic challenges he said is structural and it takes time in resolving them.

Touching on the performance of the Minister in the first term, he said we have not done too well in revenue mobilisation, and the outbreak of covid-19 has worsened the issue.

In his view, the Minister has not done too well on taxation because he scrapped several taxes and reduced some.

He said despite the gains made, the coronavirus, has eroded all the gains we have made.

He asked for a relook into the tax exemption policy since it is benefiting foreign companies who are repatriating the profits to their countries.

Meanwhile, he says the government will have difficulties in implementing some of its flagship policies.

Speaking on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm, he explained that it is not as if the government would be unable to implement the flagship policies, but, the situation we find ourselves in makes it difficult for us to achieve that.

He said it would have to take special purpose vehicles like the Agyapa Royalties to fund these projects.