Recover GYEEDA, SUBAH funds to save economy- IEA counsels gov't

The Institute of Economic Affairs is predicting that donor partners are not likely to support Ghana's budget due to the financial indiscipline in the country.

"Grants are likely to experience shortfalls, who wants to give you his money to pay single spine or subsidies," a senior Economist with the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr John Kwakye said at a press conference, Tuesday

He said until steps are taken to recover funds misappropriated through the implementation of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA), SUBAH and SADA, as well as dubious settlement claims debts paid to people, the economy will continue to be challenged and the cedi will continue to depreciate.

Dr John Kwakye was addressing journalists on the mid-year review policies announced by the Finance Minister last week.  

Finance Minister Seth Terkper appeared before Parliament, Wednesday, seeking the blessing of the House to spend over ¢3 billion in the supplementary budget.

He also chronicled a number of challenges, including continued depreciation of the cedi and rising inflation as some of the issues he said had dire consequences on the economy.

The IEA beliefs most of the challenges would continue to prevail if stringent steps are not taken to arrest the situation.

Dr Kwaye is convinced government as well as the public sector are over-bloated and need to be downsized in order to free up more revenue for development.

He also pointed out that the fundamentals of Ghana's economy have not changed and it does not look like the steps being taken by the managers of the economy would achieve any result if the status quo remained.

Joy News' Francis Abban who was present at the press conference reported Dr Kwakye as saying that "non-cosmetic" fiscal policies are needed to be implemented to change the economic situation.