<\/p>\n
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia<\/strong><\/p>\n GOVERNMENT HAS been vindicated by the World Bank\u2019s verdict that Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine has added to pressures caused by the COVID-19 crisis which are affecting economies of countries worldwide.<\/p>\n President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass, who disclosed this recently, said the international financial institution is preparing a $170 billion package of financial help in response to the overlapping global crises of war, pandemic and inflation that are hitting the poorest countries, indicating that there was a need to provide assistance quickly to save economies.<\/p>\n According to him, $50 billion would be spent over the next three months, with a further $120 billion of financing provided over the following year under the proposal that will be discussed with the World Bank\u2019s member governments at the spring meeting of the Washington-based organisation.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m deeply concerned about developing countries. They are facing sudden price increases for energy, fertiliser, and food, and the likelihood of interest rate increases. Each one hits them hard,\u201d the British daily tabloid, The Guardian<\/em> quoted Mr. Malpass as having told reporters.<\/p>\n The newspaper reported that the World Bank president said \u201cdearer food and energy, higher interest rates, the war in Ukraine and China\u2019s coronavirus-related shutdowns meant the global economy was now expected to grow by 3.2% this year, compared with the 4.1% it had predicted in January.\u201d<\/p>\n Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia recently stated that the increase in commodity prices had been exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, noting, \u201cHere in Ghana, 60% of our total imports of iron ore and steel are from Ukraine. Russia accounts for some 30% of Ghana\u2019s imported grains, 50% of flour and some 39% of fertiliser. So we are directly affected by the Russia-Ukraine war.\u201d<\/p>\n According to him, Russia and Ukraine together accounted for nearly 30% of the global wheat trade, in which Ghana imported $43.4 million worth of wheat from Russia in 2019, adding that Russia\u2019s military invasion of Ukraine led to global wheat prices shooting up, while Ukraine\u2019s production ability has been compromised.<\/p>\n NDC Claims<\/strong><\/p>\n Before the Vice President could finish his presentation on the economy, the National Youth Organiser of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), George Opare Addo, had gone to town asserting that Dr. Bawumia\u2019s address on the state of the country\u2019s economy lacked \u201csubstance.\u201d<\/p>\n In a Facebook <\/em>post, Opare Addo said, \u201cFixing an economy is not about speaking to theories in books, but very practical. The economic story of Ghana under Akufo-Addo\/Bawumia can be summarised by a six-year-old child. It is a mess and Bawumia should not waste our time as a people. We know what he can do after almost six years of putting him in charge. He doesn\u2019t deserve any response from any discerning mind.\u201d<\/p>\n World Bank Response<\/strong><\/p>\n The World Bank said the bank\u2019s sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will downgrade its growth forecasts when it publishes its half-yearly world economic outlook on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a chapter of the outlook published ahead of its official launch, the IMF expressed concern about a buildup of private debt, which it warned could knock a cumulative 0.9% off growth in advanced countries and 1.3% off growth in developing countries over the next three years,\u201d the paper stated.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are facing reversals in development for education, health, and gender equality. They\u2019re facing reduced commercial activity and trade. Also the debt crises and currency depreciations have a burden that falls heavily on the poor,\u201d it again quoted Malpass as saying.<\/p>\n \u201cFood crises are bad for everyone, but they are devastating for the poorest and most vulnerable. There are two reasons. First, the world\u2019s poorest countries tend to be food importing countries. Second, food accounts for, at least, half of total expenditures in household budgets in low-income countries, so it hits them hardest.<\/p>\n \u201cThe inequality gap has widened materially, with wealth and income concentrating in narrow segments of the global population. Rate hikes, interest rate hikes, if that\u2019s the primary tool, will actually add to the inequality challenge that the world is facing,\u201d the World Bank president purportedly indicated.<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cWe\u2019re preparing for a continued crisis response given the multiple crises. Over the next few weeks, we\u2019ll be discussing with our board a new 15-month crisis response envelope of around $170 billion to cover April 2022 through June 2023. We expect to commit around $50 billion of this amount in the next three months.\u201d<\/p>\n The tabloid reported that both the World Bank and IMF are concerned about the number of countries having problems paying their creditors at a time of slowing growth and rising global interest rates.<\/p>\n Malpass said central banks should not rely exclusively on interest rates to tackle inflation. \u201cCentral banks need to use more tools under current policies,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Malpass said there is the needfor improvements to the common framework \u2013 a mechanism for helping countries with their debt burdens \u2013 which has been criticised for being too slow and too limited in its scope.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to high debt and deficit levels, countries are under severe financial stress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n BY Ernest Kofi Adu<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia GOVERNMENT HAS been vindicated by the World Bank\u2019s verdict that Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine has added to pressures caused by the COVID-19 crisis which are affecting economies of countries worldwide. President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass, who disclosed this recently, said the international financial institution is preparing a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1066156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[3062,557,1963,225,784],"class_list":["post-1066154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-backs","tag-bank","tag-economy","tag-govt","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}