Government cannot blame COVID-19 for its economic problems – Terkper

Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper said the country’s current economic problems cannot be fully attributed to COVID-19, as the economy began to experience challenges before the outbreak of the pandemic.

Speaking at Citi TV / UPSA’s 2021 post-budget dialogue on Thursday, March 18, 2021, Tekper suggested that the government continues to make false assumptions that the current problems facing the country’s economy are due to the pandemic.

“There seems to be an effort [by the government] blame it all on COVID-19, but there were problems before COVID-19, ”he said.

Many government officials on various platforms have indicated that, like other countries around the world, Ghana’s economy has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic which has seen the country lose huge income while borrowing more for fight against the pandemic.

Acting Finance Minister Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, during the presentation of the 2021 budget last week, assessed the budgetary impact of COVID-19 at 19.7 billion GHS.

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told media earlier this month that the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to the economy had been so severe that it was necessary to pay critical attention to his fast recovery.

He said that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the country was on a steady ascent from 2017 to 2020, improving in various areas such as gross domestic product (GDP) growth, macroeconomic stability and development programs. specific.

“The effect of the pandemic, among others, has been a sharp reversal of the macroeconomic and fiscal gains that we were making until the pandemic. This week, the government is organizing two major events, SONA and the budget, which should launch the 2021 program, ”he said at a press conference.

But according to Seth Terkper, such claims are not entirely true as the pre-COVID-19 economy was already weakened.

— citinewsroom