You have not turned the corner; rather, you have exacerbated Ghanaians’ hardships – Mr Ato Forson to Ofori-Atta

You have not turned the corner; rather, you have exacerbated Ghanaians' hardships - Mr Ato Forson to Ofori-Atta

Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority Leader, has called Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s comments about Ghana’s economic improvement “false and misleading.”

Dr Ato Forson contends that Ghanaians’ problems have worsened under the Akufo-Addo administration.

Mr Ofori-Atta stated in the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review, which was tabled in Parliament on July 31, that Ghana is making moderate progress in turning the economy around after experiencing significant economic problems in 2022.

He emphasised that the government’s goals and programmes are beginning to bear fruit, and he asked the public to recognise the key milestones reached in the last three years.

Dr Ato Forson, in reaction to the Finance Minister’s remarks on the floor of Parliament, maintained that the data and figures show differently.

He expressed various reservations regarding the present status of the economy. He said, for example, that economic growth has been lowered downward from 2.8% of GDP to 1.5% of GDP, indicating a weaker recovery than was previously predicted.

“The performance so far shows that we have turned the corner. Unfortunately, the evidence and the numbers before us, show us that he has rather deepened our woes,” Cassiel Ato Forson said.

“I say this because he has said to us today that he’s revising economic growth from 2.8% of GDP to 1.5% of GDP. Again, he said to us here and now that he has borrowed 5.5 billion Ghana cedis from January to June, from the T-Bill market. Mr Speaker, not long ago, this same Minister informed us that he will not borrow at all in the year 2023. And that going into the remaining parts of the year, he is going to borrow another 41 billion Ghana cedis.”

“Aside from that, the Cedi depreciation we are seeing so far, it’s largely because we have defaulted in the payment of external interest and principal. That is why the cedi has depreciated.”