We Need To Work Harder

It is refreshing news that Ghana has joined the group of middle income countries in the world. Through a rebasing exercise undertaken by the Ghana Statistical Service, the value of goods and services produced in the country has increased more than two-fold.

This follows the use of 2006 as the base year for the calculation of economic activities, instead of 1993 which has been the base for more than 10 years.

For some time now Ghanaians from all walks of life, especially our political leaders, have been working out various strategies to catapult the country into the middle income bracket.

In actual fact, our leaders set the time frame of 2015 to attain a middle income status but if we have attained that height in 2010, then we need to pat ourselves on the back.

Nearly three decades ago, the then government embarked upon a Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) to reshape the direction of the economy by stimulating productivity at all levels.

Luckily for Ghana, Western donors endorsed SAP and, therefore, assisted us in many spheres to rebuild the economy.

Unfortunately, however, the revival of the economy faced many challenges, as the implementation of SAP came with the devaluation of the cedi.

In the long run, many companies that took loans to expand their businesses could not service the loans, thereby strangulating those firms with heavy debts.

Several reviews of the economy have taken place, including the latest rebasing exercise to fast-track our journey towards the middle income bracket.

The Daily Graphic, however, believes that this is just the beginning of good things to come which will only be made possible through hard work, commitment and sacrifice.

The days when manna used to fall from heaven are part of history and we can only survive through hard work and sacrifice.

We echo the sentiments from government sources that “although it is happy about news that the country now has a larger economy, it will remain resolute and focused on resolving the many challenges that still confront the country” to challenge our people to continue to work harder.

We know that this news comes with its own challenges, such as the lack of access to concessionary loans and aid, as well as a reduction in grants.

The tendency will be for the country to go to the open market to access commercial loans now that our economy has expanded.

The Daily Graphic suggests to the government to encourage more local investors or partnerships so that the returns on investment stay in the country for expansion, instead of being repatriated as dividends.

We are certainly on the right path towards economic development, for which everybody should lend his or her support.

The Daily Graphic appeals to the government to use the 2011 budget to remove all the bottlenecks militating against economic development to ease the burden of eking out a living on the people.

We commend all the players who helped in getting Ghana to the middle income status ahead of schedule, while noting that more needs to be done to go a step further to become a developed economy.

All the parameters exist for the attainment of that feat, such as an improved services sector like telecommunications and the exploration of oil and gas.