Ongoing economic reforms won’t affect jobs – Ofori-Atta

Government has assured that the announced structural and financial reforms expected to help stabilize the economy will not lead to job losses.

The government has come up with a Post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) which is backed by the International Monetary Fund and encompasses reforms to revive the economy.

In a press briefing on Sunday, June 18, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta intimated that the reforms are aimed at strengthening the economy and not targeted at job cuts.

“We expect multilateral support of about US$2.0 billion for 2023 and US$6.2 billion between 2023 and 2026. We expect the World Bank to provide a total support of US$1.6 billion whilst the AfDB provides a total support of US$200 million over the programme period. In addition, we expect to mobilize catalytic funding of US$30 million in 2023 and US$330 million between 2023 and 2026 from bilateral creditors.”

“Government intends to invest these resources to advance macroeconomic stability and shared economic growth. Government is very intentional in ensuring that growth and job creation are not sacrificed in the process of restoring macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability. Specific interventions to support the economic recovery process include: improving the business environment, reducing the cost of doing business and enhancing export competitiveness,” Mr. Ofori-Atta added.

The Minister further stated that the government is poised to collaborate with its external partners and other government agencies to attract significant private capital to complement its efforts.

“While aggressively mobilising domestic revenue, we remain focused on mobilising complementary sustainable external resources for our recovery and reform efforts to build the resilience that will promote shared prosperity for our people, while protecting and improving the lives of our more vulnerable population. A special collaborative effort between the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture and GIPC will be part of the programme on the thematic working group on growth to attract significant private capital.”