Blame state of economy on wrong policies- Kwasi Pratt

Kwasi Pratt is Managing Editor of Insight Newspaper

Managing Editor of The Insight Newspaper Kwasi Pratt Junior is blaming wrong government policies for the perception that Ghana is broke.

His comments on “Today's Big Story” on Multi TV follows concerns raised by the Ghana Trades Unions Congress (TUC) which has asked government to abandon all failed economic policies, adding that the economy is declining speedily because of nonfunctional policies.

The TUC is of the view that in spite of Ghana's economic growth, it has not been able to generate employment for the teaming number of youth who need jobs.

This, Kwasi Pratt Jnr, believes is because as a country, we keep “doing the same old things which are not yielding results all the time”. The economy, he said, is in a state of uncertainty which fuels the perceptions that the country is broke.

Speaking on the same show, he said Ghanaians need “self-reliance” and “we've got to think” he added.

He also noted that as a timber exporting country, most Ghanaians should not be exporting furniture from China- which actually happens to be the case. His advice is that, Ghanaians need to rely on ourselves rather than on other countries.

“The only way forward for us, is national self-reliance” he says

But the finance minister Seth TERKPE, holds a different view and disagrees with perceptions that the country is broke.

“Having challenges with an economy does not translate that it is broke, the revenues are performing well” he says

Meanwhile John Gatsi, an Economic Analyst from the University of Cape Coast, shared a similar view to that of the Finance Minister.

He said there are basic indicators to show whether the economy is doing well or bad. From his personal perspective, the economy is normal; pinpointing on inflation targeting policy.

Comparing it to New Zealand, he said countries which practice inflation targeting, have actually helped to stable the inflation front. “So our economy is just normal”.

“We have done a lot to ourselves as an economy and there are indicators that show that we are on the right path...We need to brace the storm in order to overcome the challenges we are facing in our economy”, he added