Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dalex Finance, Ken Thompson, has given his plain diagnosis of the state of Ghana's macroeconomy, describing it as frail.
Speaking at the CIMG-hosted event, Ken Thompson engaged in a hypothetical conversation with the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta where he sought to show that the cedi was overvalued using the Big Mac Index -- published by The Economist to measure purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies.
According to the Dalex Finance CEO, the overvalued cedi made Ghanaian exports expensive and non-competitive, while imports were relatively cheap.
He notes that this development results in stunted economic development and unemployment.
Ken Thompson makes the case that the trickle-down effect of the overvalued cedi will jeopardize most, if not all government policies including the“Planting for Food and Jobs” programme.
He said the polices are likely to be non-competitive because of the overvalued cedi.
Ken Thompson argues that the state of Ghana’s economy started experiencing challenges since 2017.
“We spent almost 100% of all our revenue including grants on three line items as follows: compensation to employees, interest payments, and, statutory payments, example GETFund, District Assemblies Common Fund, and NHIS."
Mr Thompson also raised concerns over the rise in government expenditure which he described as worrying.
“Since we spend over 100% of our revenue on these 3 items, all our other expenditure is done from monies borrowed. We are borrowing to fund consumption and not to fund investment.
"Our debt is piling up (70% of GDP), and, we may not be in a position to repay in future. Even before then, any natural or man-made disaster could send us into a default tailspin of government obligations causing intolerable hardship, widespread business failures, and mass unemployment,” he stated.
Solutions
Touching on the solutions that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Attah, should take to rescue the “sinking ship”, Ken Thompson stated that increasing taxes and reintroducing property rates could deal with the issues of revenue generation once and for all.
“We are not likely to reduce our expenditure on salaries in the short term, and even though there has been some capping of statutory obligations the net effect is negligible. Our only hope is to increase revenue in the short to medium term in order to fund consumption expenditure,“ he stated.
He is, therefore, expecting the government to get the informal sector to start paying individual taxes, enforce evidence of tax payment on property registration, for example, vehicle registration, company registration, land title registration and increase taxes across board especially property taxes.
"That is our hope in the short term, and reduction in profligate spending, example stopping the purchase of numerous Toyota Land Cruisers that cost over GHC 600,000 each,” he admonished.
Source: JFM/Ghana
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
OOOOOH HOOOOOO Uncle KEN!!!! Haaaaaaaaaa!!!!!. Take it easy Maaaan.
INCOMPETENT NANA GOVERNMENT!! NO WONDER THEY ARE TAKING ANYIDOHO'S THREAT OF CIVIL COUP D'ETAT VERY SERIOUS BCOS THEY KNOW THERE IS CAUSE FOR IT!!
That's it,but if revenues/taxes are increased, the vulnerable would suffer more....I said it before that,the devaluation of the cedi to Ghana cedi is the cause... 10,000-=1:00,How? 5cedis has lost its great value,,,,please FACE THE FACT.
Obviously government rush to slash/cancel some taxes based on Dr. Bawuamia's classroom theory that when the tax rates are low, it will encourage more people to pay, while production/productivity will increase to compensate for the tax cut has woefully failed. Naturally, nobody would like to pay taxes unless forced to do so. Government is also sensitive to the political ramifications of increasing taxes and/or introducing new ones. This shortfall in revenue is happening at a time when government has embarked on expensive policies such as free SHS and Planting for food and jobs. The Life style of the president is also a worry to the economy. Think about his numerous foreign travels with large entourage using presidential jet, not to talk about hotel accommodations. We tout our economy as resilient and fastest growing but the reality is that we are in distress. Salary payment may be a problem soon and when this happens all the gains made in the political front will be eroded.
The man is on point....Ghana is broke......the reason is we always borrow and use the money to pay government employees.......who do no productive work.......ok people need employment so that one is cool......Government buys too many cars for its institutions and this cars are MISUSED AND POORLY MAINTAINED BY THOSE WHO ARE ENTRUSTED WITH THE CARS.........AFTER SOME FEW YEARS THE CARS ARE SCRAPPED AND NEW ONES BOUGHT WITH LOANS CONTRACTED.........Ghanaians like cars too much......how can government keep on buying cars with loans and grants only to scrap those cars after some few years.........Where are the AMBULANCES THE LATE ATTA MILLS CONTRACTED A LOAN FACILITY ON BEHALF OF GHANA TO BUY........AFTER 4 YEARS.......80% HAVE BEEN SCRAPPED