Kweku Baako, the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper
has stated that the admissions by the Finance Minister with regards to
the current state of the economy is at variance with unrealistic claims
of a buoyant economy made last year by the ruling government.
The Senior Journalist said, “I think it is reality check. It’s time
for reality check because not too long ago the impression we were given
was that, the economy was doing very well. You should go back and listen
to the campaign themes of election 2012”.
“A very rosy picture was created, but the post-election, reality
check came right in there and you could see that times were rough”.
Mr. Baako further debunked the claim that the economy has taken a
nose dive due to the just ended election petition trial. In his view,
the indicators being pointed to as the rippling effects of the eight
month long legal battle in the apex court of Ghana were there even
before the commencement of the case.
“Felix (Kwakye Ofosu, a deputy Minister of Information) also talked
about the water crisis, the energy crisis, the revenue deficit, which
resulted in our inability, if you recall; to even pay the NHIS. Those
things came before the election petition. The fiscal deficit and all
those things that we are talking about preceded the election petition,”
he argued.
He made these comments on Metro TV, on Thursday, during a panel
discussion on the press briefing by Hon. Seth Tekper, the Minister of
Finance, on the country’s economic performance, wherein he revealed that
though it will be difficult for the government to achieve its “deficit
targets for this year”, the “objective of reducing the fiscal deficit to
lower levels over the medium terms still remains and will be pursued”
vigorously nonetheless.
Source: peacefmonline
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