Renowned economist Dr Sam ankrah is advocating a permanent 30 percent cut in government expenditure in order to reboot the struggling Ghanaian economy.
According to the global business strategist, expenditure such as size of overall government payroll, government employee accommodation and other emoluments among others must be relooked.
Responding to questions on measures in reviving the Ghanaian economy, the President of the African Investment Group (AIG) in a statement said policies providing incentives to local goods and services and disincentives to importers of same need to be created.
“There should be a significant (30+%) cut in government expenditure by permanent (not temporary measures) measures. Some of the areas to look at might be: size of overall government payroll; number of departments required to deliver government functions and services;overseas travel; government employee accommodation and other emoluments; provision of foreign healthcare; etc,” he wrote.
He stressed on measures such as “Patronizing Made in Ghana – Policies providing incentives to local goods and services and disincentives to importers of same need to be created and operationalized. Strict control of the budget and deficit overruns”.
Dr. Ankrah had earlier challenged claims by government that the Coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are to blame solely for the economic woes of Ghana.
“So the question relevant to the strength of the Cedi is, what have they done to underpin and give it real value, other than continue to pump USD into the system in order to ensure there is no unreasonable demand for FX due to shortages? The answer is nothing. So when you can’t borrow anymore, you can’t pump USD into system, your Cedi devalues”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5fm
