Government borrowing gets more costly

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• Competent Economist 11 years ago

  From the article it seems the Central Bank (BOG) is failing at its main policy objective: An inflation target of 9%. This is alarming because targeting inflation is costly and it raises questions about the competence of the ...
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  From the article it seems the Central Bank (BOG) is failing at its main policy objective: An inflation target of 9%. This is alarming because targeting inflation is costly and it raises questions about the competence of the BOG. Even more serious is the fact that inflation is actually more likely higher than is officially reported. Just a over a year ago the dollar was selling on the market for less than 2.0 GH now its 2.6 at most local exchanges. This means the Cedi actually lost about 30% of its value from a year ago based on the Exchange rate alone so most likely domestic inflation is close to this number. Remember inflation is caused mainly by i]Seignorage (The amount of real purchasing power that a government can extract from the public by printing money) ii]Government borrowing
  iii) Current account deficit or what amounts to the same thing, massive importation and minimal exportation.
  All these factors seem to apply to Ghana's current economy and really raises questions about the competence of those in charge of managing the economy.
  The questions we should ask are (1) Are we dumping money into the economy by printing new notes? If this is true is the BOG governor ok with this or is he under pressure from the executive to do so. Why can he not simply refuse to bow to executive pressure? Why should he not be given the necessary power to act independently? Why can he not get a 15 year term like the head of the US central bank?
  2)Are we borrowing excessively? Are the prices we are borrowing at realistic? If we are indeed borrowing a lot where is the return on those costly borrowing? Again these raises questions about the competence of the managers of both the fiscal and monetary side of the economy. Lastly 3) Are those in charge of managing the economy qualified economists? Do they have at least PhD in economics with years of policy experience? Remember there are quite a few Ghanaian economists in Botswana who have contributed positively to that country. If we put half-based economists in charge of the economy then the results will be mediocre at best.
  we need to fight inflation but we need to use competent economists to do so and we need to give these economists the independence they need to act in the interest of the country.

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• Kwadwoe 11 years ago

  I completely agree with this commentator. Our current heads of both fiscal and monitory policies and general administrators of our economy appear to have no clue of what is happening around them. If year on year drop/deprecia ...
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  I completely agree with this commentator. Our current heads of both fiscal and monitory policies and general administrators of our economy appear to have no clue of what is happening around them. If year on year drop/depreciation in the Cedi against the US Dollar is around 30%. Debt to GDP ratio is around 50%...then we are gearing towards an economic implosion if we dont get our acts together as a country. The question i keep asking is where is all the borrowed money going??? we dont see any developments going on to indicate or prove government spend... No local infratracture to support the expansion of the economy...How then do you want to curb inflation and the depreciation of the cedi?...We are not producing for export (hence no foriegn exchange inflows)...All we keep doing is increasing taxes on salaries that are next to nothing...forgeting that if businesses are not doing well, they cant pay their workers well, their IBT's will be very small hence your taxes recieved will also be meager...
  We need to get experienced economists to run the country's economy and this should be void of political colouration... The interest of Ghana should run supreme...Let's not forget, there's a direct correlation between overall governance and the country's economy...so no blame shifting...it's a domino effect one bad decision (like government refusal to let XOM take over kosmos shares in the jubilee)has huge repercussions in the international arena.

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• PAT 11 years ago

  WHEN NDC CAME TO POWER THEIR FIRST MISSION WAS TO PAY OUT FAKE DUBIOUS JUDGEMENT DEBTS TO WOYOME, CP, WATERVILLE, ISOFOTONE, ETC ETC THEN GYEEDA, SADA, SUBAH, SOLE SOURCING, BUILDING SIX CLASSROOM BLKS FOR 350,000.00 GHC INST ...
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  WHEN NDC CAME TO POWER THEIR FIRST MISSION WAS TO PAY OUT FAKE DUBIOUS JUDGEMENT DEBTS TO WOYOME, CP, WATERVILLE, ISOFOTONE, ETC ETC THEN GYEEDA, SADA, SUBAH, SOLE SOURCING, BUILDING SIX CLASSROOM BLKS FOR 350,000.00 GHC INSTEAD OF 80,000.00 BY NPP, 8.7 BN GHC OVEREXPENDITURE IN 2012 JUST FOR JOHN MAHAMA TO WIN ELECTIONS......ETC ETC...NOW THE RECKLESSNESS OF THE NDC IN WASTING AND LOOTING OUR MONEY HAS BROUGHT GHANA TO ITS KNEES......WE ARE EVEN GOING TO SUFFER THE WORSE AS LONG AS THESE PEOPLE ARE IN POWER....ALL THEY KNOW IS ANTI AKANISM AND TRIBALITIC POLITICS...

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• Catapult 11 years ago

  As to how anybody can expect NDC to manage and grow the economy is amazing. Does HIPC ring a bell?

  As to how anybody can expect NDC to manage and grow the economy is amazing. Does HIPC ring a bell?

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