“Let me be as basic as possible with my explanation so we all understand without getting technical,” said Dr. Sharif Mahmud Khalid, Economic Policy Adviser to the Vice-President.
Speaking on Good Morning Ghana monitored by MyNewsGh about the economic situation inherited by the current administration, Dr. Sharif did not mince words: “We took over an overheated economy. Everything was in the red. A central bank posting losses, a domestic debt exchange programme that touched pensions—blue chip investments! That tells you how low we had sunk.”
He continued, “When you’re forced to tamper with pensions in a debt restructuring programme, that is the lowest any economy can get. But we must ask: how did we get there?”
Dr. Sharif pointed to what he called a “borrowing spree” led by the previous administration: “The Kufuor-Ken-led spree brought in Eurobonds with nothing to show. Instead of investments, we got bond signing parties at the Ministry of Finance. That’s what we inherited.”
On claims that the current administration is taking credit for recent improvements, he responded, “We’re not here to take credit.
We’re here to fix a mess. And if there’s a blip, we’ll contextualise it. But no one can deny we’ve made real commitments: to the debt exchange programme, to the IMF, and to fiscal discipline.”
