Gov’t Should Guard Economic Gains after IMF Exit – Financial Expert
By: Solomon Nartey Tetteh
Financial Advisor Benjamin Nathan Otchere has cautioned government to tread carefully in managing Ghana’s recent economic gains, particularly as the country prepares for a post-International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme era later this year.
He made the remarks following the recent decline in inflation from 5.4 percent to 3.8 percent.
Speaking on The Focus on Zed 101.9FM, Mr. Otchere noted that Ghana is at a delicate stage of recovery and must be strategic to ensure the progress made so far is sustained when the country exits from IMF program around April.
“Government should be very tactical, and we should be very careful in the gains that we’ve made, especially when we exits IMF program,” he said.
Mr. Otchere described the current economic direction as positive for a country emerging from severe economic challenges.
On inflation, the financial advisor was realistic in his expectations, stressing that Ghana should not anticipate inflation falling to zero or near-zero levels.
“Inflation will not go to zero percent or even one or two percent,” he said.
He further attributed Ghana’s inflation largely to cost-push factors, rather than excessive consumer demand.
“When we talk about cost-push inflation, we are talking about the factors that build up the price of a product. This includes exchange rates, commodity prices, oil prices, gold prices, transportation costs and several other variables,” he said.
He explained that cost-push inflation arises from rising input costs that eventually feed into the final prices of goods and services.
According to him, these factors collectively determine the final cost consumers pay, making inflation more structural and complex to address.
He noted that deliberate government interventions could help ease the burden on consumers. Measures such as removing certain levies, including COVID-19-related taxes should translate into reduced prices if properly passed on.
Mr. Otchere also called on businesses to play a more responsible role in the economic recovery by reflecting cost reliefs in their pricing.
“Businesses should come to the fore and contribute, not just to help government, but to help the whole country. When reliefs come, prices should respond so that everyone can be fine,” he said.
