NPP are better managers of the economy in bad times, Veep’s lecture on economy confirms it – Kwasi Afrifa

Mr. Ignatius Kwasi Afrifa, a patron of the New Patriotic Party in western region has stated that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the fall of the cedi cannot be compared to the fall of the cedi under the Mahama regime which never suffered any global crisis.

“The cedi continuous depreciation against the dollar is due to world market prices of fuel and rising food prices due to the international boycott of Russian oil, which makes the demand for fuel higher with fewer oil for distribution” He maintained that the econonic hardship affecting growth and productivity in the country were primarily driven by the Covid 19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis and not a leadership bound problem.

Kwasi Afrifa, who’s is also a patron of the NPP Loyal Ladies in the Western Region and Amenfi West parliamentary hopeful disclosed this in an interview with the media on the state of the Economy after the public lecture on the state of the Economy by H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President of the Republic who doubles as the head of the economic management team on Thursday, April 7th during the 2022 Tertiary Students Confederacy Network of the NPP, Tescon conference at Yesukrom in Kasoa.

He explained, there’s no denying the fact that prices of goods and services are going up, it is not a leadership issue but the current state of the world as a result of the Russia-Ukrain crisis. The Russian-Ukrainkan war has caused global supply chain disruptions which has directly affected many countries globally some of which include USA, Germany, Spain, UK, Asia and most european countries of which Ghana which is a middle income economy is no exception, he said.

Despite these challenges, the growth of the economy is very stable and stronger than the erstwhile Ndc regime under former President John Mahama. A drastic decline of inflation from an average of 17.5 per cent in 2016 to an average of 7.2 per cent in 2020 and an average increase of 10 per cent in 2021 is evident to support that the government was doing better.

However, the inflation further rose to 15.7 percent in February February 2022 as a result of global conditions, including a hige rise in crude oil and other commodity prices and the Russia/Ukraine conflict.

Kwasi Afrifa hinted that inspite of all the economic challenges associated with the covid 19 pandemic, the government has managed to protect and sustained all its flagship programs key among them are the Free SHS, Zongo Development projects, One District One Factory and planting for food and jobs. “According to the bank of Ghana in a report by Daily Guide it stated that in 2021 28.7% of Ghana’s grains import were from Russia, also 50% of flour imported into Ghana are from Russia, again the construction industry will also be affected with supply of iron since Ghana import a greater percentage of its raw materials from Ukraine.

Mr. Afrifa, himself a Ports and Shipping business leader, corroborated HE Dr Bawumia’s assertion that the global average cost of shipping a container has increased from $1446 in December 2019 to $9,789 in February 2022 (an increase of 576%), Ghana’s has been impacted for two years and this has greatly affected all sectors of the economy.

This has drastically increased the cost of shipping goods and therefore their prices on the market.

“The government under the direction of President Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as head of Economic management team shall in the shortest possible time mitigate the effect of hardship on the citizenry, calling all to support the government with prayers and a sense of nationalism to be able to successfully sail Ghana through the storm, he added”

Touching on the progress made in Ghana’s digitisation drive by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, he mentioned that currently 13.2 million Ghanaians have been issued Ghana cards, the introduction of the Tax identification number has made it convenient for government to uniquely indetify transactions for all. In the case of a proper working address system, government has leveraged on the GPS technology to implement a digital address capturing every square inch of land in Ghana currently. one critical development is the installation of over 1000 cctv cameras nationwide which has help the Police in the combating of crime and ensuring sanity on our roads.

In the field of unemployment, he commended the government for the soon to be YouStart iniative for the teeming youth, a major scheme which shall provide youth Entrepreneurs with adequate training, advisory services and funding to enable them scale and enhance their business especially in the agriculture sector.

Source: Dominic Kojo Blay /johnawuniktv@gmail.com