Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, has urged all Ghanaians to maintain unwavering optimism toward the performance of the economy come 2023.
Mr Ofori-Atta noted that if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal fails to be approved, the cost will be too huge to bear on the economy as well as the citizenry.
While acknowledging the need to engage stakeholders, the Minister explained that “we must do all we can to sustain the gains of these initiatives keeping in sight the urgency of the IMF board approval in quarter-one 2023.”
He made these comments during an update on the progress of the government’s efforts to address the current economic challenges.
According to the minister, Parliament worked tirelessly to provide policy approval of the 2023 budget on December 6, 2022, and therefore extended his sincere gratitude to the Speaker, the leadership of parliament, and all members of parliament.
He continued to urge the House to expedite the approval of the fiscal measures in the budget for next year.
“We are therefore calling on the Parliament to favorably consider the fiscal measures of the 2023 budget as they are an integral part of the package for addressing the economic challenges facing the country and will facilitate the approval of an IMF program by its board,” Ken Ofori-Atta continued.
On the implementation of the debt exchange program, the Finance Minister said the government has continued extensive dialogue with stakeholders to discuss the rationale and take their feedback.
“Ultimately, confidence and the active participation of all stakeholders are the essential elements for the success of this debt exchange program. As the government is committed to laying out a path toward attaining debt sustainability informed by sound technical analysis and broad stakeholder engagement.
“Toward the comprehensive participation of all stakeholders, the government has also extended the expiration deadline of the debt exchange program from December 19, 2022, to December 30, 2022, to allow for key concerns raised by stakeholders to be accommodated,” the Minister said.
Ken Ofori-Atta encouraged all Ghanaians to play their role by supporting the various interventions to kickstart Ghana’s recovery in a determined, bold and courageous way as 2023 must be the ‘comeback year’.