First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari, has said there is the need to remove the bureaucratic constraints in the delivery of government services should as much as possible be removed to allow for maximum benefits from government services.

He further said there is also the need to strengthen key economic institutions to provide the necessary technical support to economic policymaking in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to financial support, he said, a crucial element in this direction is strengthening economic institutions to provide the necessary technical support to economic policymaking.

Speaking on crisis to recovery at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) webinar, Dr Opoku-Afari said : “In the current rapidly changing environment and uncertainty, it is important that such policies remain well focused and one way of achieving this rests on the provision of appropriate technical support.

“This can be achieved if the Fund and country authorities effectively collaborate and strengthen the ongoing capacity building programmes for member countries.

“In particular, designing targeted online programmes to deal with country-specific challenges in the current environment will be important to support the policy process in these challenging times. It is also important to strengthen and implement reforms aimed at dismantling bottlenecks in domestic revenue mobilization and administration while undertaking legal reforms that ensure property rights protection.

“Bureaucratic constraints in the delivery of government services should as much as possible be removed to allow for maximum benefits from government services.

“These processes will no doubt be critical going forward for a sustainable recovery. A decisive and clear assessment of each country’s situation is even more critical at this point to support policymakers. The Fund definitely has a huge role to play in supporting member countries in this regard. Thus, supportive human capacity building focused on harnessing local and international expertise in the provision of strong policy advice and overall strengthening economic institutions will be important to support sustainable recovery process.”