World Bank Country Director Pierre Laporte affirms Ofori-Atta’s “turned the corner” statement
In a candid appraisal of Ghana’s economic trajectory, World Bank Country Director Pierre Laporte has lauded the nation’s recent strides while cautioning against complacency.
Speaking on the PM Express Business Edition on Joy News, Mr Laporte echoed sentiments shared by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, suggesting that Ghana’s economy has unequivocally “turned the corner.”
“When you look at where Ghana’s economy was a year or two years ago and you look at the macro-economic numbers now, like inflation, you may come to accept that things have improved,” he said.
However, the seasoned economist was swift to sound alarm bells regarding potential pitfalls on the horizon. The impending election year, Mr Laporte contends, poses one of the most formidable threats to the hard-won stability, underscoring the imperative of unwavering fiscal discipline.
“We still see the election year as one of the biggest threats to the marginal stability that we are witnessing. We have to do a lot to ensure that fiscal discipline is maintained,” he remarked.
Mr Laporte’s astute observations also extended to the timing and efficacy of Ghana’s economic reforms. Implicitly critiquing the nation’s timing, he opined that earlier implementation of reforms might have pre-emptively addressed some of the economic challenges presently confronting Ghana.
Government had in the past argued that if it had not been the Russian-Ukraine War and the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghana’s economy would not have witnessed one of its biggest economic shocks in recent times.
However, this has been rubbished by some economists and analysts, arguing that the government failed to build the required shock absorbers to insulate the economy from shocks.
But responding to the issue, the World Bank Country Director argued that, even though he believes there is some element of truth, Government didn’t do well in the area of mobilising the required revenue to support the economy.
He, however, applauded the country for turning the economic situation around.
“I am responsible for other countries in the region, and I still see how they are still struggling to recover. It has been very difficult in Liberia, in Sierra Leone. Things are very tough, these economies that were hit by COVID-19 are also struggling,” he posited.
Presenting the 2024 budget on the floor of Parliament and addressing criticisms from economic experts regarding the economy turning the corner this year, the Finance Minister noted that the economy turned the corner when, “inflation started declining from 54.1 percent in December 2022 to 35.2 percent in October 2023; when, despite a 1.5 percent projected growth, the economy galloped at a remarkable pace, and clocked an average of 3.2 percent growth in the first two quarters of the year,” he stated.
“When the currency, which had been under severe pressure over the past two years, depreciated by a modest 6.4 percent cumulatively from February to date, compared to 53.9 percent over the same period in 2022; when the Banking industry started to record and report a profit-after-tax growth of 43.8 percent (GH¢6.2 billion); when in record time we completed the IMF 1st Staff Review of 6 Performance Criteria, 3 Indicative Targets and 3 Structural Benchmarks,” he added.
