The World Bank Tuesday issued a decisive warning for the government and the people of Ghana to brace themselves for the worst part of the global financial crunch. The bank's Vice-President for Africa, Ms Obiagelli Katryn Ezekwesili, who raised the alarm, said the worst effect of the crunch was yet to hit Ghana and other African countries and that it was time to brace up for the critical and tough times ahead. Ms Ezekwesili, who led a team from the World Bank to call on President John Evans Atta Mills at the Castle, Osu, explained that the fallout from the global crisis which had already taken a heavy toll on the economies of the developed nations would impact negatively on the small economies of the developing world in the months and possibly years ahead. She further explained that the crisis was likely to slow down the economic reconstruction and social renewal of Ghana and other African countries which received massive sums of money from developed economies on an annual basis. Furthermore, she said the impact of the global financial crisis would invariably threaten the implementation of budgetary projections by the government of Ghana, thereby•undermining its desire to fine-tune the economy and raise the material conditions of the people. The World Bank Vice-President said Ghana was a victim of the crunch which had brought in its wake the retrenchment of large numbers of workers across the world, including the Americas and the Asian countries. She briefed President Mills on the team's meeting with the various stakeholders of the Ghanaian economy to find ways of mitigating the impact of the crisis on the broad masses of the people. She cautioned the government that the bank's assistance to Ghana would be predicated on a number of factors in the economy, including far reaching budgetary reforms. President Mills, in his remarks, thanked the bank for the support it had given Ghana during the past years, adding that the support had led to remarkable changes in the conditions of life of the people. He said even though his administration had inherited a challenging economy, it would not take desperate measures that would inflict hardships on the people. Source: Daily Graphic