Bolgatanga Member of Parliament, Isaac Adongo, has strongly criticized Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, for wrongly touting government as having successfully overcome the economic challenges in the country.
The Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, referring to the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review presented in parliament on July 31, 2023, describeD the budget review as falling short of the reality on the ground.
“This budget is going to be one we expect to be a truthful one because for all these years, the Finance Minister has been sugarcoating the budget, hiding his presentations in funny footnotes and a series of opaque entries but the reality has now caught up with us. I expect the budget to lay bare our woes.”
“The mid-year budget is normally put in place to ensure that if our projections change, if our revenue situations change, we could make some short-term changes to the budget,” he said.
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He further highlighted the fact that the country’s reserves are expected to be equivalent to just 0.8 months by the end of the year. Having less than one month’s worth of reserves at the Bank of Ghana hardly supports the idea of turning the corner, according to him.
Moreover, Adongo pointed out that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and the Governor recently increased the monetary policy rates to 30%, indicating ongoing economic challenges. Additionally, the Ghanaian cedi’s depreciation by 30% as reported by the Bank of Ghana further undermines the minister’s claims.
In conclusion, Adongo asserted that the Finance Minister is far from being near the corner, let alone turning it, given the various economic indicators that do not align with the minister’s optimistic statement.
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