By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, revealed that the 2022 financial year has been the most brutal year for him as the manager of Ghana’s public purse as well as the country.
Presenting the 2023 mid-year budget review in Parliament, today, Monday, July 31, 2023, Mr. the Minister for Finance explained that the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic posed a great challenge for him and the governing New Patriotic Party forcing the government to run to the International Monetary Fund for respite.
Mr Speaker: “2022 was the most difficult year for me as Ghana’s Finance Minister. On July 1st 2022, we took what was then a very difficult but necessary decision to request support from the IMF to implement our Post-COVID-19 Programme of Economic Growth (PC-PEG). The country was going through a dire period of economic uncertainties and despondency.” He reiterated.
He added that measures taken by his outfit and the government have, however, begun yielding results as the economy is making a gradual recovery.
“A year on, our steps are more grounded, the vision is clearer, the path to recovery is better set, and confidence in our economy is back, growing gradually.
We have turned the corner and, more importantly, we are determined to continue down that path. Soon, we expect the measures taken to result in economic activity greater than anything experienced in the history of the Fourth Republic.
Our plans and programmes should soon lead to a sustained increase in domestic production, including manufacturing and farming, replacing many of the products that we are used to importing.
“The economy is showing signs of recovery. The exchange rate has stabilised, inflation has softened, and interest rates have declined since December 2022,” he maintained.
