Former Deputy Finance Minister and Nhyiaeso MP, Stephen Amoah, says Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson is performing well so far, but maintains that the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) government cannot yet be said to have outperformed the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

Dr Amoah argued that the current government inherited an economy that had already undergone significant recovery under the IMF-supported programme initiated by the former Akufo-Addo administration.

“Ato is doing well, but they are not better than NPP,” he stated.

Using a medical analogy, the former deputy finance minister said the previous government had stabilised the economy before leaving office, although some effects of the earlier crisis were still being felt.

“What Ato and the NDC inherited is just like somebody contracting an infection with symptoms of pale eyes, pale palms, unable to eat, and then a medical doctor came in to manage it to the extent that the infection vanished.

However, the pale palms, eyes and other symptoms would have to take some time. That is where Ato and the NDC took over,” he explained in a Citi FM interview.

Dr Amoah questioned what measurable economic impact the current administration has made so far, arguing that it is still too early to fully assess its performance.

“Even now, can you measure NDC’s finished work or product that can be measured as a percentage of our GDP?” he asked.

He further claimed that the current administration did not undertake significant spending during its first year because many approvals were still pending in Parliament, and the government was also complying with IMF conditionalities inherited from the previous administration.

“Ato has now started spending. The whole of last year, they didn’t spend; they were vetting, a lot of the things had not come to Parliament for approval, and they also came to meet conditionalities,” he said.

Dr Amoah called for patience in assessing government expenditure, insisting that Auditor-General reports in the future would provide a clearer picture of fiscal performance.

“Do you know how much they have spent so far on the emoluments of their appointees? We don’t know, so let’s wait and see,” he added.