"Gov\u2019t lost opportunity to regain investor confidence during mid-year review \u2013 Joe Jackson"

" \n Gov\u2019t lost opportunity to regain investor confidence during mid-year review \u2013 Joe Jackson \n \n\n \n Director of Operations at Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, has said government lost the opportunity to regain investor confidence in the economy during the presentation of the mid-year budget review. \n \n\n \n According to Mr Jackson, this is because government failed to significantly cut expenditure to show to the investor community and creditors that it was serious about addressing the country\u2019s debts. \n \n\n \n \u201cWe lost an opportunity to show to the investor community and creditors that we ae serious about addressing our debt issues, we didn\u2019t do enough review to indicate to the market our seriousness about our debts. And so it is not surprising where we are today. \n \n\n \n \u201cEven given the constraints we are faced with, we could have done more to cut spending in the mid-year review,\u201d he averred. \n \n\n \n Touching on the prevailing economic challenges facing the country, Mr Jackson described the current economic downturn as one of the toughest he has experienced since 1981. \n \n\n \n According to him, there is no dispute when it comes to the dire economic situation the country finds itself in and this is especially reflected in Ghana\u2019s interest rates. \n \n\n \n \u201cThe government Treasury bill, 91 days Treasury bill was 12.5% per annum in January, now it is almost 28. That\u2019s what? 200% + increase. What does that do to your planning? What does that do to your budgeting? What does that do to an institution that has given out fixed rate loans? And what does that do to the issue of raising deposits? \n \n\n \n \u201cBecause people have now lost confidence in the cedi due to the depreciation we face this year, so people are saying I want to move my money out into dollars, and prices have gone up for everything. So it\u2019s a tough environment for everybody, let no one be deceived, it\u2019s a tough environment. \n \n\n \n \u201cI think that the numbers speak for itself. Inflation at 31, the cedi has depreciated in the forex bureaus over 9.5, our foreign reserves at a historic low, the downgrade of our sovereign debt and you could go on and on. So I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any dispute as to how difficult these times are, these are some of the toughest times I\u2019ve faced since 1981,\u201d he said\u00a0 \n \n\n \n He noted that any hope or relief will come in the 1 st quarter of next year when hopefully the government would have signed onto an IMF programme to help restore investor confidence in the country\u2019s economy. \n \n\n \n \u201cSo obviously the light at the end of the tunnel is Q1 and the challenges we face are between now and Q1,\u201d he said. \n \n\n \n Joe Jackson, however, expressed disappointment in the government\u2019s handling of the economic crisis; noting that more could have been done particularly during the mid-year budget review. \n \n\n \n He said, while the e-levy was facing strong opposition in Parliament, the government should have gone ahead to make more cuts to some discretionary expenditures to make up for the delay. \n \n\n \n \u201cWhen it couldn\u2019t get passed I thought the mid-year review would not only cut the discretionary expenditure \u2013 and I\u2019d agree that some of the key parts of the expenditure are difficult to cut; issues to do with servicing your debt, issues to do with wages and salaries, they\u2019re tough. \n \n\n \n \u201cBut I also felt that there were some secret cows that we should have put on the table and reviewed to indicate to the market that we were serious and ready to address our issues and I say that we lost an opportunity. \n \n\n \n \u201cWe lost an opportunity at the mid-year review. In a sense, where we are today is not surprising because really even given our constraints we still could have done more,\u201d he stated. \n "

"Gov\u2019t lost opportunity to regain investor confidence during mid-year review \u2013 Joe Jackson"

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