The Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, has disclosed that the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic will cost Ghana some GH₵9.505 billion or a staggering 2.5 per cent of Ghana’s revised Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This amount will further cause an additional GH₵11.4 billion in the fiscal deficit racked up by the Akufo Addo administration.
While making the claim to Parliamentarians on Monday, the Finance Minister said: “…the total estimated fiscal impact from the shortfall in petroleum receipts, shortfall import duties, the shortfall in other tax revenues, the cost of the preparedness plan, and the cost of Covid-19 Alleviation Programme is GH₵9,505 million.”
The amount is almost equal to the US$2 billion infrastructure credit facility Ghana seeks from China in return for bauxite.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is currently in a fix as this loses in revenue from Covid-19 will significantly impact how much of the infrastructural projects the government can deliver this election year, as it seeks to use that evidence to shore up its electoral fortunes.
The government’s predicament worsens further as the Finance Minister estimated that the Covid-19 disease will fall short of the target by GH₵808 million for the 2020 fiscal year.
Already, Ghana’s Tourism industry which generated approximately US$1.9 billion in 2019 from 1.5 million visitors. For a couple of months now, several countries in Europe, Asia and America where Ghana’s tourists originate from have placed travel bans in a bid to contain the rapidly spreading Covid-19.
Covid-19 is also collapsing Ghanaians businesses-particularly in the hospitality and restaurant industry as the country enforces social distancing and partial lockdown.