Former President John Dramani Mahama has criticised the current government led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for failing to create a business-friendly environment.
According to the former president, the government has rather created an unstable environment that cripples business growth.
“We are in competition in our sub-region for investment, both domestic and foreign and so we must create the environment that allows businesses to thrive and grow and one of the things will be to have a stable economy. This yo-yo economy that we have, boom and burst, boom and burst is not good for business.
“And so the last time we went into an IMF program I said this must be the last time we go. We must manage our economy prudently so that it is predictable, it creates an environment where businesses are not surprised by new government policies in terms of taxes and so on and so forth, by declaration in the value of the currency and all that,” Mr Mahama said during his presentation as the keynote address at the 7th Ghana CEOs Summit in Accra on Monday, May 22, 2023.
The former president further criticised the government over what he said is a lack of preparedness in the government’s recently approved International Monetary (IMF) economic support program.
Last week, the IMF approved a $3 billion economic recovery facility for Ghana, which has faced severe economic pressure since late 2019.
The government largely attributes the economic challenges to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War, but the opposition believes the situation is due to mismanagement of the economy by the government.
According to Mr Mahama, unlike the IMF program initiated during his leadership, the recently approved program failed to undertake proper prior reforms by the government, making it a badly negotiated deal.
