Alan Kyeremanten’s 12 point plan aimed at reviving Ghana’s ailing economy

• Posted on February 19, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

A failed presidential aspirant of the opposition New Patriotic Party is advertising a 12 point plan aimed  at reviving Ghana’s ailing economy and is ready to share with government.

According to Alan Kojo Kyeremanten, the recent measures taken by the government and the Bank of Ghana to arrest the depreciating cedi are business unfriendly and would only worsen an already precarious situation.

Without mincing words, the NPP guru said the economy, having been poorly managed, is in crisis and all hands must be on deck to bring the economy on the right path.

Ghana’s cedi has been falling against major currencies

“If we agree that depreciation in the value of the cedi is a symptom of deeper structural deficiencies in the economy then obviously the issue of poor economic management comes up for scrutiny.

“If you have an inflation rate of 13 per cent plus; if you have such a significant fiscal deficit; if you have such a large public debt, all the macro-economic indicators would point to the fact that there is problem,” he told Joy News’ Evans Mensah.

He quickly debunked assertion that his proposals were nothing more than a cheap political attempt at gaining favour and popularity for his presidential ambition.

“If I have the opportunity of advising governments around Africa why should I come and sit in Ghana and not be able to offer suggestions to address some of the problems that we have. It’s a genuine effort to make a contribution [on the economy],” he insisted.

He said the first thing to be done under his 12 point agenda to redeem the economy is for government to, as a matter of urgency, call a national economic forum for dialogue on the economy.

Such a forum, he argued, would provide a multi stakeholder platform for economic experts to tease out the salient economic issues affecting the country and provide the necessary solutions.

“The outcome of the dialogue should inform a revision of the budget,” he noted.

He said government must among other things, take steps to renegotiate its debt servicing to donor partners and possibly seek for debt cancellation.

Team Ghana in a meeting with the IMF

The NPP guru plans on sending his proposal to the Finance Minister, Seth Terkper who he says is a long time friend for consideration and possible implementation.

Nathan Gadugah