At a time when businesses and families in Ghana are suffering due the power crisis, Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has asked Ghanaians to heap praises on government for handling the situation so well.

Government has been heavily criticized for failing to address the problem and about 13,000 workers have lost their jobs in various sectors due to the ongoing energy crisis.

Speaking at the Graphic Business-Fidelity Bank breakfast meeting on Thursday in Accra, the Finance Minister described Ghana as a shining star in terms of access to electricity in the sub-region.

“Let us remember that even during the period that we coined ‘dumsor’ and all that Ghana had a record; the country has 72% access to electricity.”

According to him, in terms of access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana was ranked second to South Africa, adding “so we may not be too bad after all.”

For three years, Ghanaians have been experiencing erratic power supply largely due to power generation deficit and technical problems.

Should government fail to make up for the deficit, many people would lose their jobs in the coming months.

Citing some contracts government has signed with energy companies from Turkey, Germany, USA, Russia, etc, Mr Terkper said the agreements would boost energy supply as the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company and the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant have come on stream.

Ghanaians, he noted, must not dwell only on the unfortunate experiences they have gone through in relation to power but commend government for the successes it has chalked.

“When we look at the economy, we should not look at it only on account of non-performance of Ghanaian managers including politicians. We should also look it at in the context of major shocks that the economy continues to go through in the last two years.”

He also blamed local businesses for not exporting more products.