Government’s spokesperson on Economy, Manasseh Atta Boahen, has indicated that the very moment former President Mahama and the NDC admits that Ghana’s economic woes are caused largely by external shocks, then they are doomed as a party.
In explaining this, he noted that due to how the party plays its games, they don’t have any political message and hence all they have to say is economic management.
“The truth of the matter is that the very moment the NDC admits that the country’s woes are as a result of external shocks, then they are doomed as a party. Which policies by this government could be described as a bad policy. Is it the planting for food and jobs which has provided Ghana with so much food making the country the world’s leading exporter of yam- or the One district One Factory policy of which One hundred and Twenty-Six (126) factories are functional and creating employment for the youth. What he’s saying is not worth it, he’s a statesman”, Manasseh said.
Adding that “so if the IMF has collected its data on a fact-finding mission and has indicated that the current financial constraint is not due to bad policies but because of external shocks- and someone decides to say otherwise, then its two things; either the person is a liar or the person wouldn’t just want to admit. If not for the external shocks, how would the cost of freight rise for over 1000% and that has increased the prices of goods and services. These are realities on the ground, and everyone knows”.
Manasseh in furtherance said that the President of the United States had also indicated that due to COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, their shipping lines have also agreed to increase the cost of freight and therefore if one is importing from other countries, then there’s a hike in the prices involved.
“We are not saying as a government all our problems are due to the external shocks. However, a chunk of it is due to external shocks. We keep talking about the country’s heavy dependence on importing. Over Ninety per cent of the things we use in this country are imported from elsewhere”, he stressed.