Audio Attachment:Click to listen to Ato Forson |
Former Deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, is so sure of an NDC victory in the 2020 General Elections so much so that, he has asked former President and presidential candidate of the opposition party, John Dramani Mahama to set up a new fiscal team because the ruling administration has completely destroyed the fundamentals of the economy.
According to him, the NDC under Mr Mahama in 2020 cannot roll out any meaningful policy because of how bad the current economic management team is managing the economy.
Speaking at a lecture organized by the NDC in response to issues raised by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia during a Town Hall Meeting, Ato Forson said: "I wish to state that unfortunately the way this administration is trying to manage this economy,…your excellency let me say that your administration will have a lot of work to do. We will need to reset the entire fiscal framework, the entire monetary framework before we can roll out our policies".
He further recommended that the former President and his team "start immediately to work because the way this administration is trying to manage the economy is not the best and they will end up destroying the fundamentals of the economy".
Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia on Wednesday said, the government has performed creditably well compared to the Mahama administration in stabilizing the cedi against major trading currencies.
He said the worst performance of the cedi under the Akufo-Addo government is far above the best performance of the cedi under the Mahama government.
“If you look on the screen, it gives you the fundamentals as we had it in 2014 and 2018. Every single one of them: real GDP growth, inflation, the fiscal balance, the wage bill, wage bill-to-GDP, gross debt, interest rate, current account, all the fundamentals, you’ll see that we were in a much weaker position in 2014 compared to 2018. So, ladies and gentlemen, how have the cedi performed recently? At the end of December 2017, the cedi had cumulatively depreciated by 4.9 per cent compared to 9.6 per cent in 2016. And this was the cedi’s best performance since 2011. And at the end of 2017, we had the best performance of the cedi till 2011.
“The cedi, however, depreciated by 8.4 per cent in 2018 largely on account of the emerging market pressure and US interest rate increase.
“The data on the annual rate of depreciation of the cedi in recent years show that the worst performance of the cedi so far under the NPP government, the 8.4 per cent depreciation that we saw since 2018, that worst performance is better than the best performance under the previous government between 2012 and 2016. So our worst is better than your best. And when you say this, this one is more like boot-for- chalewote.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the start of 2019 has been characterised by another sudden sharp depreciation of the cedi which has largely been reversed. Within a week, the cedi went up close to GHS5.9 to the dollar and then it retreated back to GHS5.07 and even was threatening to go below GHS5 but this is really an unprecedented development – that you don’t normally see such a retreat when the exchange rate depreciates. And you’ll see that in this period when there was a reversal in the cedi depreciation, the Bank of Ghana had not intervened in the market”, Dr Bawumia said.
But Ato Forson, who is the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, pooh-poohed the Vice President's remarks, accusing him of playing with numbers and presenting lies as facts.
“You heard him talk about the likes of the judiciary and the court systems. What has that got to do with the economic management team? He had nothing to say. He was just playing with numbers. And again, you know him and his credentials of lying with numbers. You could see lies,” Ato Forson said.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]
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No human being would vote NDC to power in 2020 and beyond. NDC wants us to feel their existence. That all!
Holes? Which holes? The macroeconomic indices haven't changed. GDP growth of 3.5% in 2016 has moved to over 7% on average by 2018. Inflation has gone down which actually helps for price affordability for even those on the lower rung of the economic ladder. Credit availability for the private sector business and expansion has gone up by much a higher percentage than what pertained. So what holes have been punched? Those are the facts given the economic position of gov't which is private-sector led growth. Nii Moi has punched nothing but his own bubble. This is a response to a comment on Nii Moi's article under the heading; Bawumia's graphs were "bass" much like the rest of his speech by one Buruchabas.
Sometimes I'm amazed at the level of ignorance of these politicians and what they take us for: 1. As individuals, we present collateral to our bankers to access facilities. 2. As a nation, we provide our Gross Domestic Products (GDP) to source Multilateral and Bilateral loans. The NDC government collaterised over 70% of our GDP for loans, far beyond debt sustainability. Hence, like Capital Bank is given to GCB Receivership, Ghana had to go to IMF for CREDIBILITY AND MANAGEMENT CUM CONDITIONALITIES. Someone takes us out of the IMF and you rubbish it????? Are these people humans who think or baboons???
When a man has nothing concrete to say but has the desire for his voice to be heard, he struggles to make sense. Atto Forson must always read his paper to himself first and ask himself questions before coming to deliver it to Ghanaians. No one should take Ghanaians for granted.
you simply have nothing to give Ghanaians just thinking about how to create, luuut and share, we will not give you the opportunity to come mess up the economy again ediots
Kwasi Pratt always make baseless argument. Who force NDC to take Ghana to IMF for policy CREDIBILITY? Kwasi Pratt doesn't understand the conditions set out by IMF.
Peacefm please add imoji to this section so some of us can express our feeling when we read things like this. OMG....no wonder Mahama failed, if people like this were those advising Mahama on economic issues no wonder the economy failed that had to be rush to the IMF. At least he should put out some figures/data to show us how the fundamentals of this current economy is being destroyed so we can compare to when NDC were in power. GHANAIANS HAVE GROWN PAST THE ERA OF INSULTS AND PROPAGANDA.
Because NDC cannot think outside of the box. Simple as that. You were in power for 8 years. When late President Mills was the leader of our country we didn't go to the IMF. Because it was clear to all NDC was going to lose the 2012 elections President Mahama overspent Ghana's resources and even with some there was no parliamentary approval!!! So after the election he had the nerve to tell us that "we" had the chewed the meat and only the bones remained as if we Ghanaians sanctioned his overspending!!!! Senchi was activated and the IMF came about as a result. I don't need to say more.
Oooooh, Ato Forson, our courts and judiciary do not matter in economic management? Sake of cheap politics you are slowing going down sensibly. Don't we have commercial courts that adjudicate business-related disputes? Is the judiciary not one of the first 3 arms of our governance system?
AND WHO IS VOTING FOR NDC IN 2020. FORGET IT. EVEN THOUGH YOUR ECONOMY AT THE TIME YOU WERE IN POWER WAS NOT GOOD, NPP YET PROMISED A LOT AND HAVE IMPLEMENTED A LOT. THIS IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NDC AND NPP. NPP SAYS WE CAN DO AS A NATION WHILES NDC IN SERIOUS CONTRAST SAYS SIR WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING IN 2020 NEITHER 2024 NOR 2028. FORGET 2020 AND SPEND YOUR MONEY WISELY IN 2020