Leading member of the opposition NPP, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has praised the Finance Minister for his “relative honesty” in diagnosing the country’s economic problems.
According to him, Mr. Seth Terkper must be retained as Finance Minister to maintain discipline in public spending, “considering how reckless government had been with the state coffers”.
Ghana is said to have one of the highest budget deficits on the African continent with a 12% deficit reocrded in 2012.
Efforts to cut this huge deficit by half in 2013 didn’t materialise and government had to revise its own deficit targets for 2014 in the mid-year review presented to Parliament last month.
In that review, growth targets, inflation targets and other economic indicators had to be revised upwards as things look bleaker than anticipated at the beginning of the year.
The value of the cedi, the local currency, has seen its heaviest fall in recent times against major international currencies such as the US dollar and the British Pound.
Government over the weekend indicated it has decided to enter into negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout to help to rescue the economy from slumping further.
Seth Terkper
Finance Minister Terkper has been widely credited with the introduction of several policy initiatives including the ‘home grown measures’, purposely meant to check government’s fiscal indiscipline in order to redeem the economy.
“I like Seth Terpker because of his relative honesty. I think, considering how reckless govt [government] had been with the state coffers, we must pray for his retention,” the former Executive Director of pro-NPP Danquah Institute posted on Facebook, Thursday.
He added: “I get the impression he is not one to sign checks for judgment debts and crony deals”.
Mr. Asare Otchere-Darko is not the first to laud the straightforwardness of Mr. Terkper.
Former Information Minister Mahama Ayariga had cause to complain that the Finance Minister is too blunt about the magnitude of economic challenges confronting the nation.
He surmised Mr. Terkper’s comments could be used against the government by the opposition, making the work of government spin doctors rather daunting.
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