Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper says Ghana’s economy is gradually emerging from a period of deep distress, but warns that recovery remains fragile and must be handled with caution.

Speaking on PM Express Business Edition on Joy News on Thursday, goverment's economic advisor pointed to the difficult fiscal conditions inherited by the current administration and the constraints imposed by the International Monetary Fund programme.

“If you look at the NDC manifesto, there’s a plan to create jobs already. But when you come into an economy where, under the IMF program we inherited, compared to what we handed over, all you can do is borrow T-Bills.

"You’ve been shut out of your own domestic bond market, which we set up. You’ve been shut out of the external bond market because you’ve defaulted. You’ve that’s because you’ve defaulted. You imposed haircuts, you suspended debt, and then we started paying the suspended debt.”

He argued that these conditions significantly limited the government’s ability to drive investment into the real sector, especially in its early months in office.

“I’m saying that in comparing the fact that the government has been in office for one and a half years, you have to look at what is it that the government was doing. Government is rapidly taking corrective measures, but that has delayed the investments that had to be done in the real sector.”

Mr Terkper noted that signs of recovery are beginning to emerge, particularly with renewed access to financial markets.

“And I’m saying that now that even the IMF and others have acknowledged that we can go back to a bond market…if you want to borrow to do infrastructure, it’s not for three months.”

He maintained that the country has moved past the most dangerous phase of the crisis, but stressed the need for discipline as recovery gathers pace.

“We have had to do serious corrections in order that we don’t continue falling into the abyss. Now we are climbing up, and therefore you are hearing about money being released for capital projects; we can borrow for a longer period, and our ratings have gone up.

"It doesn’t mean that we are going to be reckless about it, but you can see the very job creation agenda that you’re talking about coming out for Agenda 111, the Big Push and all of those things, they are beginning to show.”