Crybaby Ofori-Atta Accuses S&P For Downgrading Ghana’s Collapsed Economy

The Finance Ministry says it is disappointed in the recent rating downgrade by Standard & Poor’s, claiming it has put in place good measures to improve the economy.

In a statement released by the Finance Ministry, the government also blamed the Ghanaian parliament for delaying bills that it dubiously claimed would have salvaged the economy.

“The Government is disappointed by S&P’s decision to downgrade Ghana despite the bold policies implemented in 2022 to address macro-fiscal challenges and debt sustainability which have been significantly exacerbated by the impact of these global external shocks on the economy,” the Finance Ministry cried.

It adds: “The delays in the passage of key revenue measures introduced in the 2022 Budget affected revenues performance in the first half of the year. However, all the revenue measures introduced in the 2022 Budget, including the review of the MDA Fees and Charges Bill, the Tax Exemption Bill, the E-Levy Bill, have all now been promulgated by Parliament. These fiscal measures are now in full implementation mode to support our fiscal and debt sustainability policies.”

On 5th August 2022, Standard and Poor’s (“S&P”) Global Ratings downgraded Ghana’s foreign and local currency credit ratings from ‘B-/B’ To ‘CCC+/C’ with a negative outlook.

According to S&P, the downgrade is due to intensifying financing and external pressures on the economy.

Meanwhile, Finance expert Joe Jackson has warned that the recent downgrade of Ghana by the international rating agency, Standard and Poor’s (S&P) is not to be joked with and that the country urgently needs a bipartisan approach to solve the current mess.

In an interview on Accra-based TV3, he called for a “bipartisan” SOS in the wake of the latest downgrade, urging the Akufo-Addo government to invite the opposition NDC on board.

Otherwise, he warns, the country is likely to default on paying the debt.

“We need to call a bipartisan SoS on the economy; otherwise, we are going to default on our debts; otherwise, our foreign exchange reserves are going to come to naught. And we are going to face [the] inability to export fuel, inability to import other essentials that we require and a really drastic crash in our standards of living,” Jackson fired.

“We have got to signal to the international economy and those investors who will give us money that we are serious about facing our problems. In my opinion, the budget review did not do enough. We still have the scared cards that we are not touching. We have refused to review Free SHS; we haven’t taken an axe to our expenditure as we should.”