American economist, Steve Hanke, has restated challenges bedeviling Ghana’s economy and reiterated a call for a currency board to combat galloping inflation.
In a tweet dated January 10, 2023, Hanke measured inflation (per his independent global tracker) at 77%, 27 percentage points above the official rate of 50%.
He stressed that the prevailing challenges pointed to an economy that was headed for failure using the terminology “going down the tubes.”
“Ghana is in 8th place in this week’s inflation table. On Jan 5, I measured Ghana’s #inflation at a stunning 77%/y. #Ghana’s economy is going down the tubes. To rein in inflation, GHA must install a currency board,” his tweet read.
It is not the first time he is calling for a currency board to be put in place to hep salvage the economy.
Hanke has also been very critical of government’s resort to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid an economic crunch that government has partly blamed on aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ghana had a torrid 2022 amid an economic crisis that forced government to seek an IMF facility at a time the cedi was rapidly depreciating, inflation was galloping and government was faced with multiple downgrades by rating agencies.
Government has promised to turn around the economic fortunes of the country after sealing a Staff-Level agreement with the IMF with the hope that funds from the US$3 billion facility will be released early this year.
Read Hanke’s tweet below: