COVID-19 Is Not Wholly To Blame For Ghana’s Economic Challenges …World Bank Country Director

Country Director of the World Bank, Mr. Pierre Laporte, has deflated excuses by the Akufo Addo administration that the collapse of the Ghanaian economy was due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

According to him, the Ghanaian economy was in tatters even before COVID-19 as he berates the government for hiding the truth from the populace.

“Yes, COVID-19 has not helped. But even before COVID-19, there were signs that the situation was getting a little bit challenging,” Mr. Lapote said before asking the Akufo-Addo government to be transparent with the people.

“So, the key thing is to be transparent with the people. Yes, the figures speak for themselves, but not everybody is as educated as we are. Not everyone understands what the numbers mean, so it is important to talk about it like we are doing. More important is for us to find solutions for the problem.”

Mr. Pierre Laporte reiterated the bitter truth while speaking at a public lecture organised by the OneGhana Movement on Monday, March 7, 2022.

At the public lecture, Laporte warned of the dire economic situation facing Ghana. “Is it a really serious situation? Well, the numbers speak for themselves. The situation is very serious. At the World Bank, we’ve not hidden the fact when we’ve held discussions with government officials and even the head of state that, Ghana faces a very tough road ahead to restore macro sustainability,” Pierre Laporte cautioned

The exposition by the World Bank director means the Akufo-Addo government has become even lonelier with its face-saving claim that the problems in the economy are all due to COVID-19.

According to Akufo-Addo and his government, COVID-19 is the reason the country’s debt is more than 86% of GDP even though COVID-19.

COVID is also responsible for high inflation which is back in double digits, depreciation of the cedi against major trading currencies and the generally high cost of living.

However, experts have long rubbished those claims given that even before COVID-19 this government had borrowed more than all previous governments combined and had shown little investment in social infrastructure.

Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, had every motivation to borrow because through a corrupt arrangement in which his private company, Databank Financial Services has been hired by his Ministry as a so-called bond market expert, such that anytime he borrowed, his private company earns commission.

This high debt has been one of the main problems as investors are now refusing to lend to Ghana due to fears the country cannot payback.

Meanwhile, this same COVID-19 that the government blames for everything has brought the government more than Ghc30billion in funds.