The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has urged the media to be circumspect in their reportage on the Ghanaian economy. According to him, negative reports on the economy derail the progress that government is making to resuscitate the ailing economy.
Addressing a news conference in Accra on Sunday, June 18, 2023 to update the nation on the ongoing External Credit Facility deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr. Ofori-Atta reminded journalists of their core duty to inform, educate and entertain.
“For developing countries, there is a fourth, to foster national cohesion. National cohesion is the foundation upon which everything else is built.
“But as we watch events unfold in Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and elsewhere in our region, this is, in fact, a role that holds true for everyone. The misreporting on China was unnecessary and unfortunate.
Unfounded accusations against government officials leading the recovery are untenable and serve no useful purpose,” he said.
The Minister preferred that the media see and appreciate the need for accuracy over speed in these circumstances.
The government expressed disappointment over several media reports about the Ghanaian economy, arguing that the negative spotlights, including those from financial rating portals, painted a doomsday picture about the economy for investors.
DEBT RESTRUCTURING
The Minister for Finance had earlier spoken about completing the debt restructuring, which is pivotal to the sustainability of the economy.
According to him, despite the considerable progress made, there still remain key outstanding operations. He added that the government is in the advanced stages of completing the debt exchange programme in relation to the cocoa bills and the US dollar-denominated local bonds.
The government, he noted, has also rolled out a programme to engage Independent Power Producers (IPPs), but added that, consistent with the MOU signed with Organised Labour in December 2022, on the exemption of pension funds, they continue to be exempt.
However, he indicated swiftly that the government is currently engaging Organised Labour and Pension Fund Corporate Trustees to explore mutually beneficial options within debt sustainability limits.
Meanwhile, he announced the successful work done with the Paris Club (PC) and other Creditors on restructuring the foreign debts under the G20 Common Framework in that regard.
He assured the nation that the government will sustain engagements with private Creditors on external debt to reach an agreement with the private creditors in the shortest possible time.
PROMISING JOURNEY
The minister gave some positive feedback on the economy since landing the $3 billion IMF deal.
He mentioned that the United States, through the International Development Finance Corporation, announced within 3 days of the fund approval a programme to invest US$300 million to establish the Ghana Data Centre, under the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII).
On the domestic front, he said that inflation had decelerated to 42.2% for the month of May, 2023 down from 54.1% at the end of December 2022. The May inflation represents a 1 percent increase in the April 2023 inflation of 41.2%.
The Cedi’s depreciation, he said, has largely stabilised with a year-to-date devaluation rate of about 21.9% – down from 50% in December 2023.
The 91-day T-Bill rate has declined to 20.6%, down from 35.5% at the end of 2022 and gross international reserves have improved to US$5.7 billion as of the end of May, after the disbursement of the first tranche of US$604 million, following the approval of the IMF Programme.
He added that the current account balance turned positive at 0.9% of GDP at the end of March 2023 from 2.2% at the end of December 2022.
In addition, he said that the trade balance improved from 0.9% of GDP at the end of January 2023 to 2.2% at the end of April 2023.
According to the minister, recent GDP statistics released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in April 2022 showed that growth ended in 2022 at 3.1%, which was higher than growth projections by most international organisations.
