Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, general secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), refuted the International Monetary Fund’s claim that foreign shocks were mostly to blame for Ghana’s economic troubles.
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The Fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, has insisted that the Covid-19 outbreak and the Russia-Ukraine war, not poor government policy, were to blame for the country’s difficulties.
“The epidemic came first, then Russia’s conflict in Ukraine. We must understand that this is not the result of poor national policy, but rather of a confluence of shocks, and we must support Ghana as a result, she said.
She claimed that Ghana, along with many other nations suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, are “innocent spectators” in this global tragedy.
Fifi Kwetey disagrees, though.
He referred to the MD’s assertions as “falsehoods” and claimed that Ghana had been experiencing disastrous policies for a long time prior to the Covid-19 outbreak and the Ukraine war.
He claimed that the economic flaws were only made visible by the global shocks.
“If Ukraine and Covid were the issue, why did we already have economic issues before Covid 2019? Why did the country director for the World Bank state unequivocally that Ghana’s economy was already suffering significant difficulties even before COVID in 2019?
Why was the cedi depreciating by about 13% even prior to the creation of COVID? Why did we have budget deficits of around 7.5% to 7% prior to COVID? Why had the debt stock already surpassed the 120 billion mark and was heading between 225 and 230 billion before COVID?
