Former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, says the 2024 fiscal year will be characterized by extreme economic hardship.

According to him, whispers of increased revenue mobilisation and the introduction of new taxes will further cripple an already ailing private sector in the next fiscal year.

He was speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show ahead of the 2024 budget and economic plan where he shared his expectations for the upcoming year.

The Tamale South MP explained that what the economy needs now are economic interventions that will spur private sector-driven economic growth and reduce the cost of doing business.

“The budget, my expectation would have been it would respond to what I call the economic headwinds of the Ghanaian private sector, the cost of doing business, I’m unable to see that when you already hint about revenue mobilization and the likelihood of new taxes being introduced into the country. That will increase the cost of doing business,” he said.

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He added that with the cost of doing business likely to shoot up, the cost of goods and services is also likely to go up, further draining an impoverished population.

He urged Ghanaians to gird up their loins as the next fiscal year approaches.

“To the ordinary Ghanaian simply brace up for increased hardship, particularly in the first quarter of next year. We will reel under some extreme hardship.

“Poverty as reported by ISSER and many other international bodies including the World Bank has increased and post covid we’re not seeing the kind of economic interventions that will spur growth, and therefore growth has stunted over the years since 2020 and it’s likely to remain same.

“So mine is that…I do not see how you’re going to use one year to correct the mess of seven years,” he said.

Later this morning, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, will be delivering the 2024 budget and economic plan.

This will be the last budget reading under the Akufo-Addo-led administration.

According to Haruna Iddrisu, it will take a miracle for the government to redeem itself and fix the economic mess in the 2024 fiscal year.

“If you use seven years to create this distress how are you going to use one year to redeem? Practically impossible  and therefore your expectation should be one where too little too late, he simply has no time to redeem given the monumental damage they have done to our economic score card whether it’s inflation ending 2022 at more than 50%, today around 40%, interest rate unacceptably high, depreciation of the cedi.”