Gov’t is Doing Nothing to Revive the Economy – Economist
Dr. Amos Mensah, an Agric Economist and Senior Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has expressed skepticism about the government’s efforts to revive the economy.
In a recent statement on Opemsuo Radio’s Nkwantannanso with George Adjei, Dr. Mensah conveyed his concern that not enough substantial measures are being taken to address economic challenges.
He pointed to the debt incurred by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) and attributed it to the government’s practices.
Dr Mensah highlighted the role of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, through which BOG wrote off government debts and criticized the decision to include BOG in the programme, contrasting it with the exclusion of institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
He argued, “Just like we exempted IMF and World Bank from domestic debt exchange, there is no way we should have allowed BOG to incur that loss because we need to have faith and confidence in BOG in order to have stability in the economy, but they allowed themselves to be under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, so all loans government took from them are no longer payable or bad debt.”
Dr. Mensah emphasized that such actions should ideally require parliamentary approval, especially considering the significant debt owed to BOG by the government. He pointed out that BOG, despite its independence, has certain constraints that necessitate consultation with parliament before certain decisions are made.
Furthermore, he disagreed with BOG’s decision to prioritize constructing a new headquarters. He acknowledged the idea’s merit but questioned its timing, particularly as the nation faces economic challenges.
He added, “To add salt to injury, in the case of you losing this amount, you are now going ahead to build a structure for yourself not because BOG doesn’t have a structure but because they feel like it.”
Story by Adwoa S. Danso
