Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin, a Financial Economist at the University of Ghana (UG) says the ruling government seems to be shifting the "burden of debt and micro-economic instability to the citizen and the private sector".
Domestic debt exchange programme
This programme seeks to help restore macroeconomic stability. However, there have been concerns that this will bring 'haircut' leading to more hardship for Ghanaians.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta giving full details of the programme, said there will be no 'haircut' adding, "Treasury bills are completely exempted and all holders will be paid the full value of their investments on maturity. There will be no haircut on the principal of bonds. Individual holders of bonds will not be affected”.
Speaking to Kwami Sefa Kayi in an interview on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', Prof Bokpin said: "What this tells you is that the state is actually shifting the burden of the debt and macroeconomic instability to the citizen and the private sector. So the state in terms of the government is not doing enough and that is where the pain is coming from".
"When we talk about burden sharing one would expect that leadership will lead by example and internalise the austerity to demonstrate to the market that I understand where we are and I am willing to pay that price but the 2023 budget doesn’t do enough of that . . . so in order to crawl back, the debt operation will now have to be steep," he added.
2023 budget approved
Meanwhile, the Economist believes approval of the 2023 budget statement of government "is an important first step".
However, "there will still be a need for some level of fiscal adjustment that will be necessary for moving us closer to greater economic recovery . . . where we are some level of sacrifice would have to be made, we don't have a choice now".
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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Joy news has elevated Prof. Godfred Bokpin to guru status but to me, he is not there yet. Anybody at all can criticise but if you give him a Finance Minister today, he will be a disaster. Ok, one simple question: Godfred has been at the University of Ghana for over 15 years, can you name a single innovative initiative he championed in terms of enriching curriculum to close the gap between theory and practice and the outcome? I am asking this because it is one of his core mandate as a professor. What distinctive contribution has his research provided for Ghana? When we talk about economists like Larry Summers, Stiglitz, Friedman etc., it is the impact of their academic work on the society not rumbling at Joy News. This guy is no near to Dr Bawumia, in terms vision, knowledge and understanding of how economics work in practice. Bawumia has been impactful wherever he finds himself and I trust him more than Bokpin. If Godfred wants to be a guru, he must start working to transform his subject at the University of Ghana. This piece is from your peer.
Thank you Prof for the insights. You started warning us about this potential economic downturn way back in 2019 when we were discussing the ‘Ghana beyond aid document’ at the university of Ghana Business School. You were right by emphasizing that government should focus on the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda and any deviation will spell doom for the country. What a visionary economist! You were so on point at the time that I can still visualize the discussion. I don’t know why some people who don’t even understand simple macro economic dynamics criticize this financial and economic guru. Ken Ofori-Atta is a businessman but not an economist and he should have known the consequences of high gearing before embarking on borrowing spree that has brought Ghana into this mess.
What kind of Prof are you? When last year, the minority refused to support the approval of the 2022 budget, you clapped for them. Now have you seen the consequence of their irresponsible action on all Ghanaians? Again, when the major revenue item (e-levy) approval was delayed until April 2022, you clapped for NDC minority, and you were on radio (especially Joy News) preaching against the E-Levy and today you are saying what? We are all paying for our irresponsible acts. Do leave us alone to cry?
It is sone of you so-called who are talking bad about the government because of your evil agenda.