Govt's Vision Is Unattainable - Kwesi Botchwey

Former Finance Minister, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey says Ghana’s vision of attaining a per capita income of $1,000 by 2010 is overly ambitious. Economic Planning and Regional Integration Minister, Paa Kwesi Ndoum, recently announced that Ghana is set to achieve a per capita income of $1,000 by 2010. The current per capita income is estimated at $370. But, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey, who resigned as Finance Minister in the Rawlings administration in 1996, told Joy News that he considers the vision as overly ambitious, given the current economic situation coupled with the low investments level in the country.

“It certainly is a worthy ambition and worthy goal. Frankly, on present trends, I just don’t see the savings and investment levels that can make that possible. Nothing in the trends would suggest that it will be possible. I don’t believe that it is realizable without some massive inflow of investment and incredible change in the level of domestic savings”.

Dr. Botchwey says Ghana cannot necessarily compare itself to countries like South Korea and Ivory Coast, which Dr. Ndoum referred to, since these countries did not achieve their current status in just eight years.