What corner? - Duffuor asks Finance Minister over 'we have turned the corner' statement

Founder of defunct UniBank, Kwabena Duffuor, has squashed claims by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, that the economy was on a path of recovery.

According to him, there have been several contractions in critical areas of the economy such as construction, mining, quarrying, wholesale and retail trading, water, sewage and waste management.

This, he said, makes it impossible for the local economy to turn the corner.

Reacting to Ken Ofori-Atta's "we have turned the corner" statement in parliament during the 2023 mid-year budget review, on CitiTV's The Point of View programme, the former finance minister said, “What corner? In the first quarter of this year, if you look at the economic growth that the BoG statistics have released, we experienced a lot of contractions in very important sectors. We have experienced contractions in the construction sector, mining and quarry, wholesale-retail trading, water, sewerage and waste management."

“These are very important sectors that have contracted, so if you say you have turned the corner, what did you find in turning the corner?” Dr Kwabena Duffuor queried.

Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta during the 2023 mid-year budget review statement in parliament on July 31, 2023, said Ghana was making modest gains in turning the economy around after the economic downturn.

He stated that government’s plans and programmes were beginning to yield positive results.

Reflecting on the challenges faced in 2022, Ken Ofori-Atta acknowledged that it was the most difficult year for him as the Finance Minister.

The mid-year fiscal policy was in accordance with Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution and the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).

Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.

SA/NOQ

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