Former Fin Minister disappointed with the economy management for the last four years

Adnan Adams Mohammed
A former Minister of Finance under NDC administration has
indicated his disappointment of how the economy was managed under Akufo-Addo’s
first-term administration indicating that they had so much opportunity to do
better.
The minister noted that, the erstwhile Mills/Mahama
administration left behind a conducive economic environment for the NPP
Government from 2017 to 2020 to stabilize and improve the economy.
“The management of the economy could have been better. I say
this against the background of the fact that, yes, we did have coming out of
the global financial crisis and coming out of the slump in crude oil and
petroleum prices in 2015 and 2016. However, there were opportunities in 2017.
Let me mention first the banking sector crisis that faced us as a result of the
global financial crises and the fall in crude oil prices which had a solution
in ESLA”, Seth Terkper, former finance minister under Mills/Mahama
administration intimated in a TV interview.
“ESLA by Government’s own projection is estimated to bring
us about GHC41 billion by 2024 or 2025. That tells you that there should be
enough resources. You can also point to crude oil prices which have fallen and
rebounded between 2016 and 2017.”
“Within three years of the administration and based on the
petroleum report, the current administration has benefitted from 66 percent of
the revenue from oil production since 2011. So in three years, the administration
has earned more revenue than the eight years of the Mills/Mahama
administration”.
Mr Terkper noted that while he will not downplay the effects
of COVID-19, he holds that the Akufo-Addo Government “has had the most fiscal
resources despite the challenges”. “Few governments have faced crisis apart
from Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative. Even with this crisis,
there were resources that has helped to resolve it”, he added.
In his first State of the Nation Address, President
Akufo-Addo noted that he inherited a bad economy from the NDC Government as he
explained that the former NDC government missed all targets under the IMF
programme due to fiscal indiscipline.
“Virtually all the targets under the IMF programme, as at
December 2016, have been missed. Fiscal indiscipline, once again, reared its
head in the 2016 election year.
Total projected expenditure for 2016 was GH¢43.9 billion
(26% of GDP), but actual expenditure amounted to GH¢50.3 billion (30.2% of
GDP).
The full facts of the situation have not been put before the
Ghanaian people”, the President said.
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