Indices are good -Amegavie

THE Chief Executive of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) , Sal Amegavie, has said so far the economic indices are good and they need to be sustained.

Commenting on the stability of the Cedi, slow but downward movement of inflation and anticipated lowering of the interest rate he said “so far so good”.

He contended that if the government would continue to do what it has promised to do “by not spending what it gets and not resorting to borrowing to crowd the public sector, then there is hope at the end of the tunnel”

Amegavie conceded that there is not enough money going round but said, “if the fundamentals become right, as they appear to be, there would be enough funds to be released for investment.”

For now the government is on the right track and it is the wish of all that it would not deflect from the course.

The cedi depreciated by 1.34 per cent for the first seven months of the year, whilst inflation came down to 34.9 per cent at the end of at July. It averaged 2.5 per cent this year against three per cent last year.

Interest rate has also come down by three points from 47 per cent to 44 per cent.

He agreed to a suggestion that there should be difficult choices and decision that the government has to make.

Indications are that the fiscal and monetary policies are working effectively, said Amegavie

The chief executive recommended that the government has to strategise and use consensus building to get its difficult but critical bills through in Parliament, since it has razor-thin majority.

He was happy that this year the rains have been good and it is anticipated that there will good harvest and that will be a good sign.

However, it is important that well thought out strategies are adopted to increase food production because if the food basket is reasonable there will be happiness for workers and every household, said Amegavie.

With good strategy it should be possible for the country to be self sufficient in the production of rice which has virtually become a staple, the chief executive contended.