Terkper Shoots Down Doomsayers...

Despite huge criticisms about his management of Ghana�s finances, Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Seth Terpker has led country to its most successful Euro-bond issue. The current Eurobond is the third in the series of bonds issued so far and the government planned to raise US$1.0 billion from the issue but was surprised by the favourable investor response that lead to an over subscription of up to $3 billion. Like the two previous issues, this year�s bond attracted investors from Europe, the United States, Middle East and Asia, this is coming at a time when critics have estimated that due to the challenges facing the economy, investors will shy away from the bond, a situation that would have resulted in a costly failure on the government. Apparently, Mr. Terkper and his team pulled this bond off because they were able to convince investors about the positive economic potentials ahead of the country, indicating investors� growing confidence in the economy. Mr. Terkper, at the end of the pricing of the latest Eurobond in New York last Thursday said, �Investors saw fundamental long-term value in the Ghanaian economy. We have always emphasized that the mid-term prospects for Ghana were bright and with the coming on board of the IMF, we hope to come out of our short term challenges pretty soon.� Forbes Accolades International rating magazine; Forbes, in its September 8, 2014 edition described the country�s current achievements as �rock-solid social, institutional and economic fundamentals the rest of West Africa strives to emulate.� � The title of Minister Terkper�s midyear economic policy review, �Rising to the Challenge: Realigning the Budget to Meet Key National Priorities,� is a call to arms to protect the national economy from external risks, stimulate faster rates of growth and development, create employment and raise living standards for the country�s 25 million people,� Forbes stated in its latest issue. The bond will be listed on the Irish and Ghana Stock Exchanges. The bond was issued after a 10 day Roadshow that took the Ghana team led by Seth Terkper, Minister of Finance and Dr. Henry Kofi Wampah, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to Munich, London, New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. According to Mr. Terkper about US $ 750 million from the bond was earmarked for capital expenditures, refinancing of loans and counterpart funding requirements, while the remaining US $ 250 million would be used to provide seed capital for the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund which is scheduled to be launched in January 2015. From the excess funds accruing from the bond issue, the government has extra funds at its disposal for more projects. Spoiler Alert Meanwhile, snippets of information picked up by the Republic newspaper indicates that despite Mr. Terkper�s spirited efforts to corrected the faulty economic fundamentals that have caused a lot of hardships to Ghanaians, there is a grand scheme being unfolded by certain powerful individuals within government to sneak in former Finance Minister, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey through the �backdoor� into the Finance Ministry. According to reliable sources, the �schemers� have managed to lobby to get Dr. Kwesi Botchwey into the �good books� of President John Dramani Mahama in a systematic and carefully staged come-back for the former Finance Minister who served under ex-President Jerry John Rawlings� administration. This paper has gathered that the ultimate plan for the carefully planned strategy is to edge out the unsuspecting current Finance Minister, Seth Terkper. The President�s brother, Ibrahim Mahama is said to have fallen out with Mr. Terkper, further giving impetus to critics of the Finance Minister. Already, the spirited lobby by his backers has led to him being successfully nominated by President Mahama to head the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) after the demise the NDPC�s former boss, Paul Victor Obeng (PV Obeng). The IMF Card President Mahama recently disclosed to the Reuters that Dr. Botchwey will be leading the impending bailout discussion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) scheduled to start on the 16th September this year. The discussions that will commence soon with the IMF will touch on all sectors of the Ghanaian economy in a bid to rescue the rapidly escalating economic challenges being faced by the country. The Ghanaian officials who would be interfacing with the IMF will basically consist of staff of the fiscal unit of the Ministry of Finance and those in charge of monetary policy at the Bank of Ghana (BoG). They would be led to the negotiation table by Dr. Botchwey and supported by the BoG Governor, Dr. Henry Kofi Wampah. The lobbyist for Dr. Botchwey have capitalised on the spotlight being enjoyed by Dr. Botchwey to subtly tout him as having the antidote to the current economic challenges the country is facing, this paper has learnt. The backers of Dr. Kwesi Botchwey-who is known for his inherent Presidential ambition-, have managed to rally a number of pro-government media platforms to further the agenda of getting Dr. Botchwey into the heart of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration. Dr. Botchwey�s Track Record However, critics of Dr. Botchwey have said he is not the panacea for Ghana�s current economic challenges, especially given his much-condemned decision to �abandon ship� and tender a shock resignation as the then Finance Minister when the economy took a critical nose-dive during the latter part of the Jerry Rawlings administration. This is not the first time that subtle measures have been adopted to push the current Finance Minister Seth Terpker to relinquish his post. Indeed there is an unrelenting resolve by certain interest groups within the ruling party to get Mr. Terkper out, allegedly due to his uncompromising stance on insisting of judicious expenditure of public funds. Meanwhile, every time the pressure is mounted on him to leave, President Mahama has been unequivocal in his confidence in his Finance Minister. He was recently forced by the clamour for Mr. Terkper�s head to make a public declaration of his support for the Finance Minister. The unrelenting clamouring for the ouster of the Finance Minister recently forced some traditional leaders and core supporter base of the ruling NDC to wade in to support the efforts being expended by Mr. Terkper to correct a fundamentally debased economic fundamentals. Mr. Terkper has always insisted that rather than the economic challenges being seen as his personal short-comings, they should be viewed as short-term challenges caused by extraneous factors such as a newly calibrated economy into a lower-middle-income one. Support The Minister of Finance arguably inherited an unstable economic fundamentals and a global phenomenon of declining international commodity prices of Ghana�s main exports products such as gold and cocoa that had robbed the country of vital income. �Seth Terkper is only acting as an auto mechanic making efforts to repair a faulty vehicle manufactured by someone, which is like the economy of this country created in bad condition inherited by the Minister which requires correction and improvement as he is doing,� the Chiefs and NDC cadres stated in a statement issued recently. According to the cadres, the minister, since his assumption of office, had �done away with unsustainable financial policies that prove harmful to Ghana�s Economy.� They continued: �He had proved himself to be a man of public probity putting economic interest of the nation before narrow sectarian concerns and personal gain. And as such we do not expect for people to be attacking such a hardworking minister who is trying to transform our crawling economy for the better.� �Those who seek to derail Seth Terkper seek to derail and destroy the progress he is undoubtedly making in rehabilitating our national economy for Ghana�s betterment as a nation,� the cadres charged.