Manage oil resources judiciously - Pianim

AN economist, Mr Kwame Pianim, has said that governments should manage budgets efficiently to make proceeds from the oil resource an additional fund for extra investments.

Mr Pianim, who is also the Chief Executive Director of the New World Renaissance, said proper management of the economy was key to generating the needed financial resources for development.

He said if policy makers did not ensure fiscal discipline, the oil revenues would only be used to balance budget deficits and not come in as an additional resource for developmental projects.

Mr Pianim made the observations when he chaired a lecture in Accra as part of the Economic Development Lecture Series of the Department of Economics of the University of Ghana, Legon.

The main lecture was delivered by Mr Tony Killick on the topic "Ghana's quest for sustainable growth and development strategies: Can Ghana's economy go on like this?"

The Ghanaian economist said although there had been progress in the economy, there were also challenges that needed prudent measures to overcome.

Mr Killick, a former economic adviser to the Busia administration, in his lecture said the country's economy had progressed on a chequered path.

The country, he said, needed to sustain the progress made so far and build on it, as lessons from-past economic management, policies and implementation showed that "Ghana has been the author of its own economic fortunes, for ill and for good."

Tracing the historical path of the country's economic progression, Mr Killick described four periods from the 1970's and the main economic policy arrangements that had impacted on the whole economy. .

He described the periods between 1973 to 1982 as the black years of collapse in government revenues and uncontrollable government spending with resultant inflation among others.

The years of economic recovery programme of 1983 to 1992, he said, was the time economic sanity was instituted and that was "a major achievement."

Mr Killick said the democratization years of 1993 to 2002 following the adoption of the 1992 constitution was a landmark, but was quick to add that weak economic management persisted until between 2003 to 2006, where "the new government begun to get a grip on public finances and economic polices."