At a press briefing, Mr Nkrumah said due to the robust economy built by the Akufo-Addo-led government since it took office in 2017, the interventions introduced to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic will be successful.
Ghana’s resilient economy can fund the coronavirus fight according to Information Minister, Oppong Nkrumah
Ghana’s Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said that the country’s resilient economy built in the past few years can fund the government’s fight against Coronavirus.
Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
His comment comes after some Ghanaians questioned a policy announced by President Akufo-Addo when he addressed Ghanaians for the eighth time on measures to curb coronavirus in Ghana.
The president announced a policy objective to construct 88 district hospitals in the districts without government hospitals.
He also announced that the building of the hospitals for the 6 new regions is to start with dispatch aligned to this new program. A further 3 infectious disease centers are being built in the three belts of the country.
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However, after addressing the nation, many have wondered if the government can finance the completion of these hospitals and whether or not the country’s economy is resilient enough to afford the COVID-19 interventions including building these 88 hospitals.
But Mr Nkrumah said that “our current economic positioning is a major reason for which we are able to marshal the resources to execute a good number of the interventions we are introducing today. And moving forward, the state of our economy will be key in our ability to introduce the necessary interventions to win the various battles in this war.”
“It makes sense why some may question whether or not Ghana can afford all the interventions the President has outlined in the past about 8weeks of the Covid-19 response program. This question is justified because looking at our recent economic position, and the gains made recently as a nation, there is the genuine fear that we may be unable to afford the interventions or may end up overstretched if indeed we push through to execute them all,” he explained.
Adding that “between Jan 2017 and now, however, Ghana has made major strides in correcting the precarious economic conditions it found itself in. Our Fiscal position has improved and our Macro position has significantly improved. The combined effect of improved fiscal position and improved macro position is what enables us to afford the interventions which are being introduced as part of the COVID-19 response program. We have significantly improved national revenues, trimmed our deficit, and yielded a resilient macro position against which we can finance the intervention programs.”
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