First public meeting of the economic management team: what to expect

General News of Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-04-03

Vice President, Mr. Mahamudu Bawumia, will lead the Economic Management Team (EMT) on Wednesday for a formal engagement with part of the Ghanaian public.

The first public meeting is on the theme of "Our progress, our status, our future" and is part of a new initiative announced at an early date by the Ministry of Information.

Spokesman for the Vice President and member of the EMT Secretariat, Dr. Gideon Boako, said the open discussion session would be a question-and-answer session that will raise Ghanaians concerns about key economic issues .

The meeting, scheduled to begin at 10 am at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, also aims to inform Ghanaians of developments in Ghana.

The recent cedi redemption challenge should be at the top of the agenda.

Ghanaian companies have expressed concerns about the health of the local currency which has depreciated against the US dollar from 4.9 to 4.5 GHC since the beginning of the year.

In 2018, the cedi is depreciated by 8.4% against the dollar.

Recent power outages by some experts to a sector facing financial difficulties will also be the focus of concern.

Ghana has recently been ranked among eleven countries considered to be at high risk of debt distress in Africa.

Ghana's public debt stock at the end of 2018 was 173.2 billion GHC, according to the Bank of Ghana's Economic and Fiscal Data Summary.

The EMT should respond to concerns about the continuing increase in public debt each year.

Under the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo, the EMT is composed of nine members and chaired by Dr. Bawumia.

The prime minister is the vice-president of the team. Other members include Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta; The Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto; Minister of Energy John Peter Amewu; The Minister of Planning, Professor George Gyan Baffour; Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen; Mr. Anthony Akoto-Osei, Minister in charge of monitoring and evaluation; and Joe Amoako-Tuffour, team secretary.