Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson has taken on the Finance Minister, Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta for his proclamation that the country was on a path to recovery.
The legislator insists the pronouncement is empty especially when the Minister continues to borrow despite assurances to refrain from it.
While addressing Parliament during the Mid-Year Budget Review on Monday, July 31, 2023, Mr. Ofori-Atta highlighted the significant progress made in Ghana’s economy since the decision to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.
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He told the House that “we have turned the corner and, more importantly, we are determined to continue down that path.”
But the Minority Leader, Dr. Ato Baah Forson, will have none of that.
Speaking on the floor of parliament after the Minister’s presentation, Dr. Ato Forson retorted that the impression created by the Minister is false.
“He said that the performance so far shows that, we have turned the corner. Unfortunately, the evidence and the numbers before us, show us that he has rather deepened our woes,” Dr. Ato Forson said.
“I say this because he has said to us today that he’s revising economic growth from 2.8% of GDP to 1.5% of GDP. Again, he said to us here and now that he has borrowed 5.5 billion Ghana cedis from January to June, from the T-Bill market. Mr Speaker, not long ago, this same Minister had informed us that he will not borrow at all in the year 2023. And that going into the remaining parts of the year, he is going to borrow another 41 billion Ghana cedis.
“Aside from that, the Cedi depreciation we are seeing so far, it’s largely because we have defaulted in the payment of external interest and principal. That is why the cedi has depreciated,” he added.
