THUMB UP FOR GOVT (Front page) 01-01-10

Story: News Desk Report

GOVERNANCE and economic experts, as well as captains of industry, have given the government high performance ratings for 2009 in its handling of key economic variables and the fight against corruption.
Taking a glance back at 2009 and looking ahead into 2010 in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic, the experts cited the swift manner in which the government dealt with allegations of malfeasance against some of its former ministers, the stabilisation of the economy and fiscal policy direction as some of the key indicators.
They were, however, quick to add that it needed to do more to help cushion the economy.
The President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Nana Owusu Afari, urged the government to institute measures that would promote the growth of Ghanaian industry in 2010, reports Kofi Yeboah.
The call comes after industries had undergone a tough year in 2009, characterised by high inflation, high lending rates, job cuts and the effects of the global economic crunch.
Nana Afari expressed the hope that after stabilising the economy in 2009, the government would release funds into the economy to help industries to grow.
The AGI President suggested to the government to focus on reasonable levels of growth and infrastructure development that would impact positively on the growth of industries.
Nana Afari said after inheriting a big deficit, the government had to embark on a stabilising programme in 2009, for which reason it did not spend much for industries to also benefit.
Furthermore, he said, industries could not grow because high inflation affected the base and prime rates, which pushed lending rates high, thereby reducing cash flow.
According to the AGI President, 2009 was a very tough year because the repercussions of the global financial crisis also had a negative impact on industries.
He said in view of those challenges, some industries had to lay off some of their workers, adding that the situation also made it difficult for others to employ more workers.
Nana Afari said the AGI was holding discussions with the government to reduce the cost of doing business in order to expand the scope of industrial business and create wealth for Ghana to become strong.
Asked how industry was positioning itself to take advantage of opportunities inherent in oil production in the country scheduled to begin next year, Nana Afari said AGI members had high expectations for the emerging oil economy.
He was, however, worried that the country had not yet put in place a legal framework on the oil industry to ensure that local industries benefited adequately from the natural resource.
“If we don’t take time, we cannot position Ghanian industries well to benefit from the oil find,” he cautioned.
An economist, Mr Kwamena Essilfie Adjaye noted that the fiscal policy direction of the government for the year had yielded the expected results, reports Daniel Nkrumah.
He said in respect of the four major macroeconomic indicators, the government managed to get the economy into the direction it wanted.
Commenting on the specific indicators, he said although inflation had gone down from around 18 per cent in October to 16.92 per cent in November 2009, it would be difficult to attain the end-of-period target of 14.6 per cent, going by the trend in previous years.
He said there had consistently been an increase in inflation between November and December, adding that he was not expecting the trend to change.
On interest rates, he explained that because the government had been trying to control its deficit, it tried to limit domestic borrowing.
Mr Adjaye explained that although interest rates were not the best, the government had not contributed to an increase in demand for credit in the domestic banking and financial industry.
He added that the decreases in remittances, as a result of the global financial crisis, were also a contributory factor.
Commenting on the rate of GDP growth, he said the target set by the government had so far not been met, adding that there were indications that the country would grow at a lower rate.
The Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD) lauded the government for leading the crusade against corruption last year, Musah Yahaya Jafaru reports.
It mentioned the manner in which it dealt with the allegation of financial malfeasance against the former Minister of Youth and Sports, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, and the referral of the Mabey & Johnson case involving the former Minister of Health, Dr George Adjah-Sipa Yankey, and a former Minister of State at the Presidency, Mr Baba Kamara, to the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for investigation as high points in the fight against corruption.
The Head of Programmes of CDD, Mr Kojo Asante, who was reviewing political and democratic events in 2009, said Ghana had a President “who wants to take a strong line against corruption”.
He, however, said the government had not done well in putting in place the necessary systems to make corruption unattractive.
For instance, Mr Asante said, although it was mandatory for public officials to declare their assets, there was no mechanism in place to compel them to comply with the directive.
Mr Asante condemned the violence that characterised by-elections in Akwatia and Cheriponi, which he said was perpetrated by foot soldiers.
He attributed the situation to inaction on the part of the police and “political interference with the process of policing”.
Mr Asante expressed worry at the “heavy-handedness” of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) in the handling of suspects and stressed the need for it to be “humane” in dealing with them.