Which corner have you turned? Ato Forson asks Ken Ofori-Atta

Leader of the Minority side in Parliament Cassiel Ato Forson has asked the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta to stop branding that the Ghanaian economy has seen a turnaround. Ato Forson was reacting to the Finance Minister’s comments in Parliament where he was presenting the mid-year budget review.

Ken Ofori-Atta told parliament, “Mr Speaker, it is important that we acknowledge some of the major milestones that this country has experienced in the last three years. We should be still and appreciate that despite our challenges as a country, we have been saved from many extreme conditions that others have suffered, including peace, health, security, continuous supply of power, and life itself, amongst others.”

Continuing, he said. “Over that period, the country has gone through extremely difficult situations, and the gratitude of His Excellency the President and his government goes to the good people of Ghana for their patience, understanding and positive contributions to Government’s efforts to weather the storm.

“Mr Speaker, we have turned the corner and, more importantly, we are determined to continue down that path. Soon, we expect the measures taken to result in economic activity greater than anything experienced in the history of the Fourth Republic. Our plans and programmes should soon lead to a sustained increase in domestic production, including manufacturing and farming, replacing many of the products that we are used to importing.”

But Ato Forson thinks otherwise as he pointed out that the figures the minister just mentioned before the house do not show that the country has turned a corner. To him, the situation is even now more pronounced and hopeless than before.

“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,” Ato Forson argued.

“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 GHS5.5 billion from January to June, from the T-Bill market. Mr Speaker, not long ago, this same Minister 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 GHS41 billion.”