Economic take-off is still far off - Nduom

The independent weekly, Public Agenda, says high hopes of a quick improvement in the economy and therefore the lives of Ghanaians must be put on hold, as government is currently concentrating on building solid foundation for future take-off.

According to the paper, Dr Kwesi Nduom, Minister for Economic Planning and Regional Cooperation brought home this reality to public service workers and civil servants at a two-day workshop on the nation's economy.

"What we are doing now should have been done over the years, we are trying to manage the domestic debt, for the government not to over spend and we are putting money at the right place," he told the workers.

Commenting on the nature of this year's budget, the economic planning minister said government and the new economic planners came out with the type of budget they did, because, "It is a foundation building for the economy we did not have sound foundation."

He said, according to the targets set in the vision 2020 document, the country should have achieved certain standards, but already the programme has gone through five years and certain target have not been achieved.

When the debt hardship is reduced, it would impact positively on the economy and attract enough investment to stimulate growth.