A GHANAIAN economist, Mr Kwame Pianim, on Monday joined the debate on the sale of Ghana Telecom (GT) and argued that the sustenance of the Ghanaian economy depended on the money to be paid for GT by the British company, Vodafone. He said Ghana's economy needed about $130 million injection to stay healthy and that the $900 million expected from the sale of 70 per cent of GT shares to Vodafone could provide that critical support, strengthen the macro economy and control inflation. "If we do not get the money from Vodafone, inflation will go up, which will greatly affect the poor," Mr Pianim told the DailY Graphic on Monday. He was sharing his views on the debate in which the Minority in Parliament, opinion leaders and some civil society organisations have kicked against the proposed sale. Mr Pianim indicated that as a result of the rise in the price of crude oil, proceeds, from cocoa were "not enough" to pay for the oil, which now $old at $130 per barrel. Besides, he said, the market capitalisation of all the banks on the Ghana Stock Exchange was, less than $1 billion and, therefore the banks could not raise the needed capital to support this year’s to cushion the economy. Mr Pianim, who is the former Chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) said last year Parliament approved that proceeds from the sale of GT to be used to finance this year's budget and noted that any attempt to reverse that decision would greatly affect the budget and consequently weaken the economy. That, he stressed would mean that the government could not disburse budget allocations to important sectors of the economy. Therefore the sale of GT to Vodafone “is our chance and if we back out of it, we are finished," he said. Mr Pianim said since Vodafone was a world-class company with a lot of goodwill, its coming to Ghana was an investment promotion, since it would put Ghana on the international investment radar. However, he said if the government failed to sign the deal with Vodafone, the former’s credibility would be dented at the international level, saying, that “if the government backs out of the deal we are telling the world that when the Ghana government signs something, it is useless". He said the competitive landscape of the telecommunications sector had changed and that capital injection, technology improvement and infrastructural development were needed to stand the competition, noting, regrettably, that GT was lacking in all those aspects. He said MTN was far ahead of GT in the cellular telephone industry because of its huge investment base and projected that between six months and one year the government would have to give GT away if the deal with Vodafone was cancelled. Mr Pianim said besides the $900 million that Vodafone would pay for 70 per cent of GT shares the company would invest about $1 billion to improve infrastructure in GT. Besides, the deal would create more jobs, as Vodafone would expand GT's offices in the country, he noted, while admitting that some non-performing managers and junior staff would be laid off. In a related development, the Senior Staff Association (SSA) of GT has described the 70 per cent shares intended for sale to Vodafone as too high. The SSA told the Daily Graphic in Accra that although it did not object to the privatisation of the company, the deal should be pegged at 40 per cent plus target. "We are proposing 40 per, cent with target to start with. If the performances good and the target is achieved, we can increase the percentage," the President of the SSA, Mr George Jiagge, said. "We don't have any objection to the privatisation of GT but 70 per cent is too high," he restated. Source: Daily Graphic