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The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) yesterday described the economic statistics cited by the government's economic management team as inaccurate and said that the economy had declined in the past two years.
This highly publicized event of civil society was turned into a political jamboree by the NDC, where party representatives praised their performance in government, in direct response to an economic conference given by the vice president Mahamudu Bawumia in Accra last Wednesday.
The conference, under the auspices of the Coalition for Restoration (CFR), a pressure group affiliated to the National Democratic Congress (NDC), focused on Ghana's growing fiscal risks, financial crisis and external vulnerabilities. : Post Mortem Analysis of the Expanded Credit Program (ECF) and Overview of the Economy without the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ".
The Bolgatanga Central MP, Mr. Isaac Adongo, launched the move by stating that the Bank of Ghana had injected nearly a billion dollars into the economy to stabilize the depreciating cedi in the first two months of the year, challenging Dr. Bawumia 's claims that there would have been no injection of dollars to strengthen the local currency.
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Quoting a Bloomberg terminal, Adongo said that although the action was aimed at consolidating the cedi and giving the government a positive outlook, "the cedi immediately faced a major attack and ended its deals at 5.6 GH ¢ for a US dollar ".
Mr. Adongo, who seemed energized by the presence of former President Mahama and the big political parties at the conference held in Accra and attended by professional badociations, civil society organizations and sympathizers party, sometimes questioned the credibility of Dr. Bawumia's personalities.
"The data released by the BoG last week indicated that Ghana's net international reserves at the end of 2018 amounted to $ 3.8 billion, but fell to about $ 3.1 billion at the end of the year. February 2019. This means that the BoG pumped $ 700 million of our hard-earned net international reserves to stabilize the cedi, "he said.
The theme of the conference was: "Increasing fiscal risks, financial crisis and external vulnerabilities in Ghana: a post-mortem badessment of the expanded credit program and an overview of the economy without the International Monetary Fund (IMF)".
BoG data
"The BoG data showed that $ 700 million had been used between January and February, to which was added $ 300 million added in March," said Adongo.
In a plenary session on the Ghanaian economy last Wednesday, Bawumia said Ghana's debt-to-GDP ratio was 48 percent and said the economy has performed better in the last two years than in the past. Mahama government.
But the member said that the numbers provided by the vice president did not accurately reflect the facts on the ground because they were outdated.
He added that Bloomberg Terminal, which tracks the performance of currencies around the world, currently considers the cedi as the worst performing currency in Africa and the fourth largest in the world.
He added that about $ 1.4 billion of reserves were used to support the cedi between 2017 and February of this year, describing the action as careless use of the country's reserves.
Adongo said Ghana's debt-to-GDP ratio, estimated by Dr. Bawumia at 48 percent, is "cooked."
He added that the Vice President had used the December 2018 figures for the country's external debt and added those for March 2019.
"As for the domestic debt, they reported back to March 2019. They remembered borrowing 3.7 billion GH ¢, which they added to their reserve and have shown that the reserve is high, so I too have added it.
"And when we add it appropriately, based on the new series, our debt-to-GDP ratio is 58%, but Mr. Bawumia claimed it was 48%," Adongo said. , Member of Parliament's Finance Committee.
"If you used the old series, Ghana's debt-to-GDP ratio would be 72%," he said, adding that "it's so outrageous, given the fact that the government is not Has not yet experienced his first elections. "
Destiny among foreigners
The MP is worried about the "over-concentration of external debts".
According to him, about three foreign investors now held Ghana's economy.
"This means that only a few people hold our external debt and that Ghana's destiny is tied to Franklin Templeton and two or three other investors," he added.
The situation, he said, does not only undermine the independence of Ghana's decision-making process "but also increases our vulnerability."
In his opinion, Ghana's monetary policy decisions can not be taken in isolation from the interests of these investors and their foreign electors, like the governor of the BoG.
"If they [the investors] decide that their interest is now better served in Southeast Asia and that they come to take their money, the cedi will disappear. This is the situation of our Ghanaian economy and it is not the one to celebrate, "he said.
IMF Travels
He criticized the government for sacrificing the needs of Ghanaians in order to impress the supervisors of the economy, the International Monetary Fund.
In doing so, he said, the NPP government has "continuously hungered the Ghanaian people."
He added that keeping money had not only caused difficulties, but had also delayed investments in infrastructure.
Adongo, however, said that despite efforts to align spending with revenue, the IMF was not impressed.
He suggested that a better way to fill the budget deficit would be to mobilize more revenue instead of limiting spending in a country where public spending has had a knock-on effect on business and business. ;employment.
Fiifey Kwetey, MP for Ketu South; Mr. John Jinapor, MP for Yapei Kusawgu, and Mr. Ato Forson, MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam.
Other people were Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, former Minister of Education, and Mrs. Mona Quartey, former Deputy Minister of Finance.
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