Finance Analyst, Kweku Adoboli, has suggested to government to halt certain projects, including the construction of the national cathedral, to work on economic hardships.
Mr. Adoboli averred that the type of projects, which are a drag on expenses right now, that do not lead to immediate productive benefit should be paused.
“And it should be done with confidence, it is like we need to save money and we are pausing it, we will come to it when we have money. They are important projects. They lead to the pride of the country, but they need to be paused.”
Kweku Adoboli
Kweku Adoboli also suggested to government to scrap tax exemptions to businesses in a bid to help rake in more revenue for Ghana in the wake of global economic pressure.
According to Mr. Adoboli, if the nation doesn’t ensure such taxes are scrapped, things are going to get so much worse.
“We shouldn’t be in the position where we are now, basically exposed to all these gyration in the global market, and the gyration in the global market are going to be so much worse.”
Kweku Adoboli
Consider new revenue measures
Speaking on the issue, Leslie Dwight Mensah, an economist at the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggested to government to consider new revenue measures in the extractive industry to help raise the needed resources to develop the country.
Mr. Mensah intimated that the critical measures that are required to fix the country’s current economic challenges are more systemic and structural hence the need to consolidate the budget and improve the stability of the economy.
“I’ve followed the debate on whether the country should turn to the IMF or not and my view is that a fund programme would be beneficial, no doubt, especially in the short term. But it’s certainly not a panacea, ultimately we need domestic resolve and courage to do what is right for our economy in these difficult times with or without an IMF programme.”
Leslie Dwight Mensah
According to Mr. Mensah, while he will oppose any move by the government to seek a fund programme, he personally will not also go out of his way to advocate one. He believed that if government wants to sufficiently resolve the current crisis, it can do so.
“The problem we have presently is a fiscal crisis that is snowballing into a broader macroeconomic crisis on the back of the external shocks that the economy has been subjected to, especially since the start of this year. My view is that we don’t need the Fund to appreciate the requirement for further measures and if we are resolved and resolute to confront some tough tradeoff, we should be able to dig ourselves out of this crisis on our own.”
Leslie Dwight Mensah
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