Ken Ofori-Atta did better in his first two years as Finance Minister than Ato Forson has done – Kofi Bentil

The Honorary Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has argued that former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta performed better in his first two years in office than the current Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.

He said although Dr Ato Forson had done well in managing the economy, his performance should be assessed against the economic conditions inherited by both ministers when they assumed office.

Mr Bentil made the remarks on TV3's KeyPoint programme on Saturday, November 14, while discussing the 2027 Budget Statement and Economic Policy presented to Parliament by Dr Forson on Thursday, November 12.

He cited Ghana's 6.3 per cent economic growth in 2018, during Mr Ofori-Atta's tenure, arguing that the former Finance Minister achieved a stronger performance within his first two years than Dr Forson had managed so far.

"The first two years of Ato Forson, if compared to the first two years of Ken Ofori-Atta, you will find that indeed Ken did better because actually Ato inherited a better system than Ken," he said.

The policy analyst argued that Dr Forson inherited a relatively stronger economic foundation, including gold reserves and the benefits of debt restructuring, which he said should be considered when assessing the current administration's performance.

He also questioned the extent to which the current government could claim credit for initiatives such as the Ghana Gold Board, insisting that some of the ideas behind its operations predated the Mahama administration.

While acknowledging the current Finance Minister's performance, he described him as a good shepherd who had taken care of what he inherited rather than a transformative leader who had created everything being celebrated.

Mr Bentil, however, cautioned against using early economic gains to make definitive judgments about the performance of a Finance Minister, citing the experience of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.