Coronavirus: Ghana's growth rate projected to decline from 6% to 1.5% according to Information Minister, Oppong Nkrumah

Speaking at the Minister’s press briefing on Tuesday (May 12, 2020), he explained that Ghana’s budget deficit is also expected to exceed 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) adding, the nation will also be impacted in its macro-fiscal position due to the pandemic.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has been tasked to put together a Resilience and Recovery Programme to mitigate the economic impact of coronavirus across all sectors.

He added Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to present and submit the Resilience and Recovery Programme to Parliament and the nation after cabinet approves it.

"After deliberations at a cabinet retreat held over the weekend, government has decided that the Finance Minister is to ensure that the macro slippages occasioned by the pandemic are reduced to the barest minimum. It has become obvious however that this year's budget deficit will exceed the 5 percent of GDP projected."

"It is important to note that this slippage is as a result of the massive cuts in national revenues due to the global economic slowdown, reduction in trade, and the need to expand some expenditure items to help contain the situation," he added.

The Information Minister explained that the Resilience and Recovery Programme will elaborate on fiscal expansion measures to assist specific sectors of the Ghanaian economy to achieve a growth rebound.

"Despite the expected hits of the pandemic across all sectors, priority is to be maintained on the following sectors; health, education, infrastructure, food and agriculture, social protection, import substitution, and industrial growth as well as security," Oppong Nkrumah explained.