Speakers at forum on the high cost of credit and its implications for Ghana have tasked the Mahama- led-administration to fix the macro-economic fundamentals in the country.
They attributed Ghana’s current economic challenges to the poor macro-economic fundamentals in Ghana.
[contextly_sidebar id=”1Nab7zB5UUfup0eTwpxjT4BIrpdb8QEK”]The Executive Director at the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA),Dr. Joe Abbey asked government to reduce the high fiscal and current account deficits which will subsequently lead to a reduction in the cost of credit
“The one thing peculiar to Ghana is that we have situations of high fiscal and current account deficit which come essentially from the operations of government so if we are going to get the job done,we must stop these quibbling and get down with the job,” he said.
BoG must sit up
Meanwhile the Head of the Economics division at the Institute of Statistical, Social Economic and Research (ISSER) Dr. Charles Ackah believes there is an urgent need for the Bank of Ghana to step up its regulatory role.
He argued that most of Ghana’s economic challenges are as a result of the policy rates and high borrowing by government which are mostly regulated by the BoG
Dr. Ackah lamented that the inability of the BoG to perform its supervisory role of regulating the activities of micro enterprises has partly contributed the challenges, saying “I was talking to some micro enterprises and they are borrowing at 10 percent per month and the Bank of Ghana sits down, government sits down as if nobody can do anything about it. ”
The Food and Agriculture Minister Fiifi Kwettey however disagreed with Dr. Ackah.
For him the fundamental problem is what he calls a dangerous pricing culture in the country, which makes industry players seek to make excess profit at the expense of the ordinary Ghanaian.
Citing an exmaple to support his claim, Fiifi Kwettey posited that charges for real estate or housing pricing in Ghana was outragoeusly expensive.,
“There is an essential issue that has to do with a pricing culture that absolutely goes for the kill at the least opportunity,” said the Minister.
He therefore called for a “broader discussion on the pricing culture” to resolve the problem.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah