Financial Analyst, Sydney Casely Hayford has stated that the Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper appears to be confused.
He has attributed his assertion to what he describes as the “inconsistencies” in the Minister’s presentation of the 2015 mid-year budget review.
“I’ve heard snippets of his delivery on the day, and I’ve read whatever he published out there, and I have come to one conclusion. I think the Finance Minister is either confused or is hoodwinking us.”
The Minister while presenting the supplementary budget and the 2015 budget review to Parliament on Tuesday requested for an additional 800 million cedis to help government implement targets spelt out in the 2015 budget.
He further indicated that the overall budget deficit target has been revised from 6.5 percent of GDP to 7.3 percent while inflation has also been reviewed upward; from 11.5 percent to 13.7 percent.
Sydney Casely Hayford, who is not enthused about the new figures, further described his presentation as an “admission of failure.”
He believes “all that the Minister came to do was to come and tell us ‘I did not meet my targets and these are my new targets that I am setting’”
“The GDP was supposed to grow 3.9 percent now he says he can only grow it by 3.5 percent, so he has brought that target down. He set a target for inflation into single digits and said he was going to do 9. 5 percent now he says he is going to end it at 11.5 percent or some 12 percent. He was only reducing his level of competence to a point where he can come back to you the next year or the year after and come and tell you I was able to beat the targets.”
Justifying his position, Sydney cited other issues, including Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and debt stock as strong evidence to prove that Ghana’s economy is in distress.
Source: citifmonline.com
