The Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo is dissatisfied with Vice President, Mahumudu Bawumia’s address on the state of Ghana’s economy.
Mr. Adongo said the address was sub-par, falling to touch on the main factors accounting for Ghana’s current economic challenges.
“If you listen to Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, very characteristic of him, he did not make any serious intellectual conversation… You will know for sure that this is someone struggling.”
“Bawumia did not speak about our net international reserves, which have become so depleted that investors now see the cedi as a worsening currency because there is no forex to back it,” Mr. Adongo noted.
The MP was also disappointed that the Vice President attributed a surge in food prices to the Russia-Ukraine war.
“This is a man who says that the main reason why food prices are up is that Ghana imports 30 percent of its wheat requirements from Ukraine. When was the last time you ate any food prepared from wheat? Is wheat our staple food in Ghana?”
“In one breath you say your Planting for Food and Jobs is so buoyant and so successful that there is an abundance of food, yet you claim 30 percent wheat is enough to create food inflation in Ghana. Quite clearly, you can tell there is a problem,” he said on Eyewitness News.
The Vice President delivered the address on Thursday, April 7, 2022.
Speaking at an event jointly organised by the Danquah Institute and the NPP’s TESCON at Kasoa in the Central Region, the Vice President touched on issues bordering on Ghana’s rising debt stock, the cedi depreciation, inflation rate, and the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the Ghanaian economy.
However, he was silent on the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) during his address.
The only time the Vice President came close to mentioning the tax policy was when he was talking about taxes and levies abolished or reduced by the Akufo-Addo government within the last five years.
