The Chairman of Fidelity Bank Ghana, Edward Effah has stated that, he expects the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in the country to improve significantly in the coming years.
He emphasized that investor confidence has soared, adding “we were at the Eurobond road show and there was a lot of investor confidence in the Ghanaian economy and that was different from Ghana two years ago where investors saw Ghana as a disaster.”
Explaining further, Mr. Effah said “what impressed investors were that growth has gone from 3.5 percent to 8.9 percent and inflation is now single digit, the currency was the worst performing currency in 2014 with devaluation of about 35 percent but in 2018 is one of the best performing currencies, our international reserve is more than 4 months of import cover and is one of the highest in the region, interest rates are coming down, so all these factors go to help in the ease of doing business.”
Mr. Effah also called on Ghanaians to support the Ghana Beyond Aid policy, saying it is noble. “We need to build a solid private sector. We need big Ghanaian companies to pay taxes and create more jobs.”
Some other private sector players have also commended government for the introduction of the digital address system, reduction in electricity tariff, reduction in bank lending rates, mobile interoperability among others, adding that will enhance the business environment further.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured that, based on lessons from the past, and the current economic successes, the government will work hard not to seek any assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the future.
“I am hoping strongly that this will be the last time Ghana will have the recourse to go to the IMF for assistance,” President Akufo-Addo said during a two-day Ghana CEO Summit 2018 in Accra.
The President said the growth recorded after a year of fiscal discipline and innovative economic management had been remarkable.
He, however, asked successive future governments to draw lessons from the trend in order not to run the country into macroeconomic difficulties in the future.
He stressed that the government would not relent in its quest to remain fiscally disciplined in the management of public finances in a move to sustain the gains made so far.
For this reason, the President noted that the country must live within its means if it wanted to grow its economy.
“As a government, if you want to be committed and disciplined in the management of the public finances of your country, it will be very unusual to find yourself in macroeconomic challenges which will require the assistance of external entities,” he added.
The Resident Representative of IMF, Ms Natalia Koliadina, who has also applauded the macroeconomic gainsof the country, urged the government to continue to adhere to prudent fiscal discipline in order to sustain the stability achieved so far.
That, she said, would help improve on the gains made over the past one year even outside the IMF-supported programme.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the same event, the director asked the government to develop more means in order to reduce the country’s debt.
While commending the managers of the economy for reducing the debt to GDP ratio to 60 percent as at February 2018, she said the country’s public debt was still significant. Ms Koliadina said ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ would be difficult to achieve if Ghana’s debt stock was not controlled effectively.
“This recovery process is only the beginning for Ghana because much more needs to be done. And the focus now is on making sure that macroecono
mic stability is continued and maintained in the future outside the IMF-supported programmes.”
