Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta maintains that he has handled the country’s monetary affairs with prudence.
The Minister’s bad management of the economy, which is in terrible shape, according to the minority in parliament, has led to calls for his resignation.
The Cedi has seen its value drop by over 50 percent when compared to the US dollar in the first 10 months of this year.
The development has since placed the cedi as the worst in the world amongst major currencies, according to ratings by Bloomberg.
“Fiscal recklessness leading to the crash of the Ghana cedi which is currently the worst performing currency in the world” was one of seven grounds put forward by the Minority to demand the removal of Mr. Ofori-Atta.
Reacting to the allegations before the ad-hoc committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament to probe allegations warranting his removal from office as presented by the Minority, Mr. Ofori-Atta stated that he has not at all been reckless in the management of the country’s finances.
He said, on the contrary, government’s “strenuous efforts to protect the public purse is what has helped”.
He argues that he has as required of him always presented government revenue and expenditure propositions to Parliament, who have in turn raised no concerns.
The Finance Minister noted that Parliament’s delay in passing the E-levy has cost the country.
“On all occasions I have come to Parliament to present the annual or mid-year budget, I have discussed all propositions of government in revenue and expenditure and financing, and on all these occasions, I have received approval as Parliament subsequently passed appropriation bills on them.”
“Every key expenditure made has been supported by this house. Indeed, we also saw the dire consequences when the house for months refused to pass a major revenue generation item introduced by the government to support the fiscal stability of the economy.”
Ghana’s inflation rate hit an all-time high of 40.4 percent for the month of October 2022.
This was captured in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on Wednesday, November 9, 2022.
Per the data, food and non-food inflation also rose to hit 43.7 percent and 37.8 percent respectively.
