PRESIDENT John Evans Atta Mills has constituted a 10-member Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to advise him on key economic policy issues and policy options in managing the impact of the current global and domestic economic challenges.
The council, made up of experienced and knowledgeable people — Dr Gobind Nankani, Togbe Afede XIV, Prof. K. N. Afful, Dr Emmanuel Ablo, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Dr K. Y. Amoako, Mr Joel Hyde, Dr Cadman Atta Mills, Mr Ishmael Yamson and Mr Fred Ohene-Kena — will also advise the President on how to maximise the full potential of existing opportunities.
The EAC comes into existence at a particularly difficult period in the country’s history when a government which is barely four months in office is expected to evolve measures to withstand challenges, including growing inflation, unemployment, the continuous depreciation of the cedi which analysts predict will continue into the second quarter of the year and the short-term economic imbalance created by the downturn in developed economies.
To add to this is the strong stance of some people that the situation presents an opportunity for a paradigm shift in the structure of the economy to reap opportunities from the international macroeconomic challenges, in addition to withstanding those same challenges.
Before the downturn, Ghana, and some sub-Saharan African countries, enjoyed an appreciable economic growth that strengthened their balance sheets. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) concedes that these achievements were attributable to sound economic policies, a favourable external environment and increased external support in the form of debt relief and higher inflows.
Another contributory factor to that achievement was foreign remittances, which had been growing until the crunch. Indeed, according to the IMF remittances to sub-Saharan Africa are projected to drop by between five and eight per cent this year.
Aside from a decline in foreign exchange, the livelihoods of many people in the country who depend mainly on such remittances will be jeopardised.
These are some of the immediate challenges that the new EAC will have to help the government to solve.
The members of the council should bring their wisdom and expertise to bear on the formulation and implementation of the government’s economic plan.
They must combine their knowledge and experiences and come up with fresh thinking to offer an independent and non-partisan source of advice and oversight on the Ghanaian economy.
In doing this, the members of the council must be candid and unsparing in their assessment of the government’s economic policies.
We would urge them to work with existing think tanks to give impetus to the challenge of putting the economy on track.
We hope and strongly believe that their combined efforts will provide the government with workable ideas to solve the complex and novel problems confronting the people and the government of this country.
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