Finance Minister Seth Terkper says government is putting in place adequate measures to protect the economy from the recent external shocks.

Some of the measures include diversifying the country’s exports to improve earnings and improving domestic tax collections to ensure that revenue is not affected badly, because of declining commodity prices. 

The Finance Minister disclosed this to Joy Business after he made a presentation on “State of the Ghana Economy: Recent History and Immediate Prospects” at the University of Ghana Business School. 

Recent decline in commodity prices, especially for crude oil has resulted in government cutting its projected income for oil for end of year, from over 4 billion Ghana cedis to about 1.8 billion Ghana cedis.

So with predictions that gold and crude oil prices are expected to decline further, there are fears that the country’s revenue could be affected badly. But Seth Terkper believes that measures being taken by government will ensure that the effect on the economy is managed.

On decision by the US Federal Reserve to keep its rate unchanged at 0 percent, Mr. Seth Terkper believed that even a rate hike could have affected the economy and upcoming Eurobond.

The Finance Minister was of the view that the most investors would rather peg their hopes on the country’s economic prospects, which might convince them to bring the capital into the country. 

Mr. Tekper noted that the Ghanaian economy has very bright medium term prospects, supported by an expanded services sector; the discovery of more oil and gas fields (TEN and Sankofa) and the coming on stream of the country’s own gas processing plant.

“Government recognizes that it is critical to address its short-term challenges immediately to safeguard these bright prospects and it has, therefore, taken the necessary steps and remains committed to stabilizing the economy and achieving its medium term macroeconomic objectives”.

Minister acknowledged that seasonal factors and rising inflation continue to be a challenge in controlling cedi’s depreciation. He said both government and the Central Bank are implementing short, medium and long term structural and policy measures to stabilize the situation.

On his part, Dean of the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Joshua Yindenaba Abor said the public lecture was part of the University’s plan to bridge the gap between the academia and policy makers.

This, he said, would specifically afford academia the opportunity to be updated on current developments in policymaking as well as offer policymakers the opportunity to receive inputs from academia that could shape policy.

“Our vision is to become a world-class research intensive University by the next decade. Therefore we are focused on carrying out policy relevant research and also engaging policy makers on critical policy issues” he added.  

He noted that the program, will also offer students and lecturers a good opportunity to interrogate some of the issues that affect economic policy and also proffer some useful recommendations based on some of their research findings and observations.

The public lecture was jointly put together by the University of Ghana School of Law, University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) and the Department of Economics, all of the College of Humanities