Features
Economic recovery on course
Ken Ofori Attah
There is no doubt that, in spite of the current economic challenges, the government is working hard round the clock to ensure an effective economic recovery in order to make things better for Ghanaians in the country.
It is an indication of the determination of the government to surmount the obstacle that is affecting the country today. What makes us hopeful is that, in spite of the economic difficulties facing the country, developmental projects in all parts of the country are still ongoing.
Technical, Vocational, Engineering and Technology education (TVET) is going alongside the free SHS being implemented with maximum alacrity. Other projects, such as the new regional and district hospitals as well as the promotion of electricity and water in various parts of the country, among others, are ongoing. Again, electricity supply has been relatively constant compared to what was experienced previously under what became known as “Dumsor”.
In other parts of Africa, for instance, power outages have become a common phenomenon. The cases of South Africa, Nigeria and a few other African countries testify to this fact.
COUNT OUR BLESSINGS
It is for this reason that people in Ghana must be happy and hopeful for happy days ahead. We need to count our blessings one by one.
It is true that economic conditions are very tough, but from all indications, every effort is being made to bring the situation under control. The Debt Restructuring Programme by the government is meant to bring the situation under control in order to push forward positive growth and this is the reason why the government is still negotiating with its creditors to bring the debt level under control.
The Domestic Debt Exchange has been completed successfully. In the same way, efforts are also being made to enter negotiations with our foreign counterparts to bring the situation under control as far as the foreign debt level is concerned.
The debt level has gone up not because of any reckless spending. Rather, they went into the building of schools, both technical and grammar education, the provision of water and electricity for the people, the construction of roads and many others.
This is a country that has proven to be responsible as far as developmental projects are concerned. It is believed that very soon, positive economic results will be encountered.
NEGOTIATIONS ON DEBT RESTRUCTURING
Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta went to China to have negotiations on debt restructuring with officials of that country. Sources say the Minister went via Addis Ababa, where he attended the UNECA High-Level Ministers meeting on Global Financial Architecture. After that meeting, Mr Ofori-Atta headed to China on March 22, 2023.
The Minister who led the government delegation had bilateral talks with China as well as seek financial assurances for Ghana’s programme with the International Monetary Fund. This is an indication of the great effort being made by government to normalise the economic situation of the country and make it better.
The trip was postponed to the end of March because it coincided with the National People’s Congress of China meeting in early March 2023. The Minister of Finance has already held meetings with officials of Exim Bank China in Ghana, all in the line with re-profiling the country’s debt to China.
GENERATION OF FUNDS
The government is also working hard to derive enough money from Treasury Bills in order to keep things going. We therefore need to be hopeful because all these efforts are yielding the desired results in line with the economic recovery.
The Government of Ghana secured GH¢3.88 billion from the sale of treasury bills in its latest auction held on March 10, 2023. This was an oversubscription of the GH¢1.10 billion it was targeting.
However, interest rates have dropped significantly to 18 per cent. According to the auction results from the Central Bank, the government secured GH¢2.90 billion from the 91-day bill and GH¢972.49 million from the 182-day bill. The subscriptions surpassed the government’s set target of GH¢2.775 million but it sold more than the GH¢3.31 billion secured by the government in last week’s auction. Interest rates, however, reduced to 18.52 per cent for the 91-day bill, 22.8 per cent and 21.27 per cent for the 182-day bill.
CONFIDENCE IN ECONOMY
The oversubscription is an indication of great confidence in the Ghanaian economy. If there had been no confidence, there would have been undersubscription. This goes to show, among others, that things are on course for rapid recovery.
The fall in rates has been attributed to the successful debt restructuring program. According to the government, the Domestic Debt Exchange programme has accounted for the reduction in the rate of Treasury Bills from 35 per cent to 24 per cent.
There is therefore no doubt that things are gradually stabilising and getting better. If this is the case, then let us have confidence that, as long as we are on the right path, Ghanaians will soon smile.
What we are all seeking is for inflation to fall to a level that is lower than what it is now. If this happens, and it will surely do so, the economic recovery programme will move at a faster rate than it is now.
INFLATION
Inflation could fall sharply to below 40 per cent by the end of April 2023. According to a Senior Credit Research Analyst at REDD Intelligence, Mark Bohlund, his base effects analysis indicate that “inflation will fall by more than 10 percentage points by April 2023.”
The fall in inflation will not happen by mere chance. Rather, it will come about as a result of pragmatic steps taken by the government to achieve that purpose.
“The inflation rate has declined for two straight months and may fall more sharply to below 40 per cent by the end of April due to base effects,” said Mark Bohlund, a senior credit research analyst at REDD Intelligence. Bloomberg said the Ghana cedi, which whipsawed in 2022 over concern about its ballooning debt load and then optimism about a provisional International Monetary Fund bailout, has been relatively steady this year, helping to keep inflation in check.
ECONOMY TO BOUNCE BACK
In conclusion, therefore, the economic situation being experienced in Ghana is tough, admittedly, but the government has taken the right steps to ensure that positive results are achieved as early as possible. We must all therefore be hopeful that, as President Akufo Addo has said, the economy will surely bounce back.
Ghana will not continue to stay in this economic situation. We must therefore be hopeful in light of the ongoing recovery efforts that are taking place thanks to the bold economic steps put in place by the government.
The economic recovery is surely bound to occur within a short time, so we must all support the government with prayer and action in our daily practical dealings so that things will be better for all of us.
Email address/WhatsApp number of author:
Pradmat201@gmail.com (0553318911)
By Dr Kofi Amponsah-Bediako
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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