Macro-economic stability rests on socio-political stability

The respected Ghanaian economist Dr. Joe Abbey has stressed the need for a stable socio-political environment in order for the government’s pursued vision of a stable macro-economy to thrive.

“Social-political stability is the first business that we must take care off and guarantee that the democratic plant becomes more entrenched” says Dr. Abbey who is the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA).

Ghanaians he added must be committed to using the democratic processes which also require that the law enforcement and judicial systems work because “if people feel that they can’t get justice in their home it would result in a state of warlordism.”

Dr. Abbey told the dailyEXPRESS that if the country continues to experience a lot of social difficulties, social distress, labour unrests and a general unstable political environment like we had in the first quarter of our independence period, the country will face a situation in which it cannot mechanically place macro-economic stability on top of things.

He cited as an example labour unrests, explaining that when you have to throw more money into the system to make it work you cannot achieve macro-economic stability.

The CEPA boss said people must be assured that their rights including the right to life and property will be upheld to ensure that a workable system is developed. “If people continue to have issues of unfair arrests, unfair trial and are uncertain about the future, definitely you can’t have people thinking of long term interests.”

Ghana’s economy according to various institutional reports in recent times has been performing considerably well, but there have also been various guidelines and suggestions to increase the performance of the economy and achieve a middle income status.

Dr. Abbey advised that the country needs to ensure that a stable macro-economic environment is maintained while resources are mobilized to overcome areas where the country is heavily burdened.

He also cautioned government against a rush to borrow money when there are no institutions to ensure transparency and accountability. Dr. Abbey also noted that for the country to see a major boost in its economic performance, productivity which is very important must be increased.

The CEPA Executive Director said it will be difficult to increase productivity when there is a lack of infrastructure, citing the example of farmers who are not able to send their produce to the market.

He also suggested that the successes chalked with cocoa can be replicated with other farm produce like yam and maize.