I'm under pressure to sack Finance Minister - Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that he is under pressure from some members of his government to dismiss Finance Minister, Seth Terkpker.

The President stated that the calls for the dismissal of the Finance Minister are as a result of the many reforms Mr. Terkper was introducing at the Finance Ministry that are against the traditions that have been in existence at the Ministry over the years.

The President made these comments when the new Managing Director of Barclays Bank Ghana, Patience Akyianu called on him at the Flagstaff House on Wednesday.

Expressing his concern about the challenges of some Ghanaian companies, the President said banks these days feel more comfortable borrowing to multinational companies rather than indigenous Ghanaian companies because of the inability of the Ghanaian companies to pay back loans on time.

This, according to the President could partly be blamed on government's fiscal indiscipline that creates huge deficit with rising inflation and interest rates, thus making it difficult for Ghanaian companies who work for government to survive.

The President indicated that government has introduced various reforms to deal with the situation which he described as a "vicious cycle".

“…It's a vicious cycle we need to break and that is why a lot of the reforms that Seth is carrying out in the Finance Ministry with regards to the GIFMIS [Ghana Integrated Management Information System] and making sure we budget properly and MDAs [Ministries, Departments and Agencies] follow budget discipline. All these are issues we're trying to introduce”.

The reforms however, according to him are not favourable to certain individuals who have therefore called for the head of Mr. Terkper.

“I mean several times they've interceded with me to sack Seth because he's hurting the politics. He doesn't understand the politics," he added.