Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin, a lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, has stated that the relevance of government policies can best be measured in moments of socioeconomic hardships.
He questioned the impact of government’s flagship initiative of Planting for Food and Jobs, amidst the current socioeconomic challenges in the country and asked where the food and the jobs where since it was no longer a multiple choice.
According to him, people could no longer choose what they liked because the reality was in front of everyone regardless of their political affiliation due to widespread public sentiments about the increasing cost of living.
“The situation is no longer a multiple choice so that people choose what they like. Because the reality is in front of everyone regardless of your political affiliation and with Planting for Food and Jobs, where are the food and jobs? It is factors and drivers like these that reveal the resilience of your policy and your economy,” Prof. Bokpin asserted.
Professor Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, indicated that recent figures from the Ghana Statistical Service, the country’s inflation jumped to 27.6 per cent from the 23.6 per cent recorded in April, 2022, and blamed the situation on increase in transport fares and food prices.
He explained that the rate of inflations for transport (39.0%), household equipment and maintenance (33.8%), housing, water, gas and electricity (32.3%) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (30.1.6%) were higher than the national average (27.6%) and in May, 2022, 12 of the 13 divisions recorded inflation rates higher than the rolling average from June, 2021 to May, 2022.
However, Prof. Bokpin alluded to the fact that “with macro global level, the impact is pervasive, we are not denying that, but resilience of the economy is shown in times like these that is why there are variations in level of exposure and price development between Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Kenya and other countries and we realise it.
“When it happens this way, then you will realise how global level development is actually meeting local reality and magnifies vulnerabilities we have used words to explain but now it is your words against the reality because the hardship will not end anytime soon.
“We have austerity staring at our faces and fiscal consolidation, either we do it under an International Monetary Fund programme or the measures we impose on ourselves tell us the fiscal consolidation we are implementing requires some adjustment costs that will be borne by the citizenry, often times unevenly distributed and this should tell us that we are not getting out of this anytime soon,” Prof. Bokpin cautioned. –myjoyonline.com
