A GOOD ONE THERE

MANY factors account for the present global economic situation. These include increasing purchasing power of the middle-income class in China and other emerging economies, the use of food crops to produce biofuel, free trade policies promoted by international financial institutions and growing population.
The crisis has been aggravated by a surge in the price of crude oil over the last six months or so.
It is instructive that when Ghana outlined its economic and financial statement for this year in November last year, it did so on an estimated crude oil price of $85 per barrel.
The global economy this year has witnessed tremendous shock to such an extent that in some countries tens of thousands of people have staged demonstrations to protest against increases in the cost of living.
Most developing countries are at the receiving end because of the liberalised policies promoted by Western donors and multilateral organisations.
The policies designed by these institutions to stabilise the economies of many poor countries have rather become barriers to economic efficiency.
In the name of liberalisation and structural adjustment, our governments were stampeded to adopt cost recovery as the best option to compete in a globalised world.
Today, a number of countries which were self-sufficient in food production have become dependent on imports.
The way forward is for us to demonstrate the political will to re-negotiate some of the international trade terms that retard the progress of most emerging economies.
The good news, however, is that the Kufuor administration has decided to respond to the pleas of the people to stem the rising cost of living.
President J. A. Kufuor, in a nation-wide broadcast last night, announced a reduction in import duty on major food items and waived levies on some petroleum products as part of a major economic initiative to mitigate the hardship on consumers occasioned by escalating global food and oil prices.
Hopefully, this intervention will provide some space for families, particularly those in the lower income bracket, to afford their basic needs.
It will also be important for all Ghanaians to police the safety net that has been provided by the government, so that ‘economic vampires’ do not take advantage of the expected reduction in prices on the market to smuggle food items to neighbouring countries.
The development on the world market should be a wake-up call to us to take our destiny into our own hands.
The resources are here locally for economic reconstruction. What is necessary is our preparedness to work hard in all spheres of national endeavour to put the economy on an even keel.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, calls on all and sundry to de-politicise the debate on how to find solutions to our predicament and contribute to the discussion in the days ahead in the best interest of the country.
It is an election year and the temptation exists for politicians to attempt to gain political advantage, but we must all remember that anybody who plays politics with the world economic crisis does not stand to gain from it. Whatever gain may boomerang in the long term.
While we reflect on the government’s prescription for recovery, we must all learn from the bitter lessons of the economic crisis by turning to our domestic routes for growth, diversifying exports and expanding safety net initiatives.