He said the time has come for an inclusive consensus on what the nation should do to arrest the situation.
We need a national dialogue on the worsening economy - Mahama
Former President John Dramani Mahama has called for a national discussion on Ghana’s current dire economy.
Recommended articles
He particularly blamed the Akufo-Addo government for doing too little to salvage the ailing economy and bring reprieve to suffering Ghanaians.
His comments come on the heels of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) recent downgrade of Ghana’s foreign and local credit ratings from B-B’ to CCC+C with a negative economic outlook.
In a statement, John Mahama said, “there appears to be no end to the problems with the Ghanaian economy, with the recent downgrade to CCC+/C junk status”.
Mr. Mahama said the only remedy is for a consultative discussion among relevant stakeholders to reverse what has become a worrying trend.
“A national dialogue on the economy, bringing some of our best brains together, will serve us well, even as we prepare for debt restructuring and negotiation of an IMF programme.”
He said the unstable currency and the recent mid-year budget review, do not repose any confidence in the economy.
“The steep depreciation of the Ghana Cedi in recent days, clearly shows that the mid-year review of the 2022 budget failed to win back the confidence of the investor community and the Ghanaian public.”
“Unfortunately, no credible remedial plans have been put forward by the government to salvage the [ailing] economy”, John Mahama wrote on Facebook.
According to S&P, the downgrade was due to intensifying financing and external pressures on the economy.
Before S&P’s downgrade, Fitch had already downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘B-‘ from ‘B’ and handed it a negative outlook.
Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) also downgraded Ghana’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to Caa1 from B3 and changed the outlook to stable from negative.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh