He pointed out that the failure to do so appropriately could result in a complete loss of confidence from the international community, which would then cause the economy to fall into a downward spiral. The government’s commitment to and strategy for fixing the broken economy sustainably would be signaled to the international world by this budget. Ghana’s 2023 Budget Statement, according to economist Dr. Theo Acheampong, will either make or break the country.
The government’s commitment to resolving this issue and placing the economy on a sustainable footing moving ahead will be revealed to all of us by the budget, he added. He said, in an interview with JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition on Friday, that individuals from the international community would be closely observing how the administration handled matters like income mobilization and spending reductions. Everyone is expecting and watching for what is said in the budget regarding increasing revenue, handling expenses, addressing the deficit, and financing the deficit, the speaker added.
What part will the Central Bank play in this framework for inflation targeting, and what additional social mitigating support would the government provide to the people, and at what cost? He added that many market participants, watchers, and individuals like myself are actually watching for all of these difficulties in the 2023 budget. The staff-level agreement from the IMF, anticipated to be reached by the end of this year, may differ from the budget statement, Dr. Theo Acheampong warned. In his opinion, if that were the case, it would only increase uncertainty and harm the economy even more.
“Because in the end, if the budget is read and we’re talking about a staff-level agreement by December or early January, what that will do is send a strong signal or confidence to the market participants or players,” he said. “That’s because what you would expect in that staff-level agreement wouldn’t be any different from what you’re seeing in the budget.” “There will still be that ambiguity because those figures do not reflect the reality,” he added. “Let’s assume the budget is read and the staff-level agreement is reached, and you see a massive gap between the budget and the staff-level agreement.
