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Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta has made a passionate call for creativity and changes in rules as the government confronts the current economic crisis.
According to him, the economic crisis is real and has culminated in a cost of living crisis, high food prices and increased oil costs and tightened financial conditions especially in developing economies.
The 2023 budget, he said, has therefore been prepared within the context of this very difficult economic situation due largely to external shocks, domestic debt levels, interest charges and the Parliamentary stalemate on the budget debate last year.
Mr. Ofori-Atta made the call at the post-budget workshop on the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government on Friday, November 26 at the Volta Serene Hotel in Ho, Volta Region
International development institutions, he said, are projecting tough times ahead and stressed this is the time to be brutal with the truth.
He indicated that the global economy in 2023 and beyond puts inflation higher than seen in several decades globally.
He said, “Global growth has been projected to slow down from an estimated 3.2% in 2022 to 2.7% in 2023.”
“The impact of these global shocks together with domestic development has resulted in high exchange rate depreciation, high inflation, rising interest rates, significant fiscal stress, unsustainable debt burden, dwindling gross international reserves at the Bank of Ghana, credit rating downgrades and low GDP growth.”
The Finance Minister argued if there ever was an economic crisis, this is one of them and lamented how these challenges derailed the remarkable turnaround the government achieved prior to the COVID pandemic between 2017 and 2019.
The 2023 Budget has, he said, therefore been prepared to restore macroeconomic stability, promote fiscal and debt sustainability and build resilience for faster economic recovery and protect the poor and vulnerable.
This, he said, is the reason for the theme of the 2023 budget, ‘Restoring and sustaining macroeconomic stability and resilience for inclusive growth and value addition.”
He indicated that government is very clear on the technical interventions but argued in order to rise and build there must be a common language and urged Parliament to work together and create resilience to be able to overcome the crisis.
