Former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has described Ghana’s economic fundamentals as still fragile, saying, the performance of the economy has been mixed despite the International Monetary Fund-support programme.

According to him, inflation remains high while the exchange rate is not too stable and the country is still in debt distressed.

Speaking in an interview with Joy Business, Mr. Terkper, however, alluded that some gains have been chalked so far but minimal, indicating more work needs to be done to bring the economy back to its sound footing.

He however attributed the recent improvement in Ghana’s economic fundamentals to the Bank of Ghana’s zero financing of the government budget, but warns economy is far from recovering.

 “In the case of inflation, it was high because it crossed 50%, for the first time in many years (two or three decades) …such highs were reached because of the central bank deficit financing. The fact that the Central Bank has moved towards zero financing of the budget obviously will bring some discipline to fiscal, which was being financed, therefore should expect some definite improvement”.

Yes, it is a progress but we are not where we hope to be. All government's aim is single-digit (inflation)”, he pointed out.  

Mr. Terkper therefore wants the government to be efficient in spending to keep the fiscal economy stable. 

He believes a stable fiscal economy is key to a productive economy such as low interest rates and high private sector growth.