Ghana urged to address economic problems

Ghana should forge ahead with efforts to solve its economic problems that threaten to weaken the society, a leading economist said on Wednesday. Kingsley Amoako, president of the African Center for Economic Transformation, identified high fiscal deficits, rising public debt, energy subsidies and a high public sector wage bill as factors threatening Ghana's macroeconomic stability. Amoako, former president of the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa (UNECA), was speaking at the ongoing National Economic Forum (NEF) at Akosombo, 100 km northeast of the capital. The forum aims to promote dialogue towards achieving consensus on economic policies, strategies and measures required to accelerate Ghana's transition to a higher sustainable path of development. "The country's current fiscal imbalance, if maintained at current trends, is expected to result in an 'untenable domestic debt position' in as few as three years," Amoako warned. The numbers and trends are alarming and require an aggressive response, he noted, commending the Ghanian government's recently announced new measures to reduce public sector expenditure and improve revenue generation. "After all, any nation in economic distress must take the necessary steps to turn things around," he added. Ghana experienced total economic meltdown before 1982 and some observers have compared the current situation to that in the early 1980s. But former Finance Minister Kwesi Botchwey disagrees. "I don't believe that we are quite where we were in 1983. In 1983 we faced a monumental crisis and we were really on the brink of national disintegration," Botchwey told Xinhua. "I do believe that there is way out which is why we are here to find pathways for change. And I am confident that by the time we finish this business here, we will identify some concrete ideas that will help us chart a new path for our medium-term growth," he said. The NEF ends on Thursday.