Bawumia blames economic woes on Covid-19, Ukraine-Russia war, banking reforms

Government has blamed the country’s economic crisis on the effects of the banking reforms, Covid-19 and the Ukraine-Russia war.

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia speaking on Wednesday explained that the banking reforms cost the nation $7 billion.

An amount, he argued could have been invested in the country’s economy if not for the negligence of the previous government.

We had to undertake a major banking crisis reform. At that time, 2018/2019, it cost almost $7 billion in order to save the banking system. Now the choice that was available was that either you let the banking system collapse or you save there was really no middle way.

“So we had to save the banking system and the deposits of 4.6 million people [were safe],” he said.

He was speaking at this year’s Internal Audit Conference in Accra on Tuesday.

Regarding Covid-19, the Vice President noted that during those deadly times, government was more focused on saving lives than the country’s fiscal discipline.

This, he indicated came at a very expensive cost to the nation.

We had the worst economic depression since the 1930s in the global economy. Of course from the President’s point of view at the time of Covid-19, the emphasis was on saving lives and not on fiscal discipline.

“So yes, we focused on saving lives at great fiscal cost,” he noted.

Dr. Bawumia, subsequently, noted that as government was strategizing to revitalize the economy, the Ukraine-Russia war started, thus, setting achievements chalked downhill.

However, Dr. Bawumia reassured the citizenry that all hope is not yet lost.

According to him, the Akufo-Addo administration is committed to resuscitating the ailing economy.

He was optimistic that with the several interventions being implemented, Ghana’s currency will appreciate and the economy will bounce back.