Economic Crisis: Ayorkor Botchwey Predicts The Worse Is Yet To Come For Ghana

• Foreign affairs minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has said Ghana is facing a very difficult choice with how to proceed with efforts to save the failing economy
• She said the country is faced with either an IMF bailout which will result in agitations or homegrown measures which are equally tough
• Speaking at a UN security council event, the minister said the road back to economic recovery could prove daunting

Ghana’s foreign affairs minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has given a gloomy insider-knowledge about the country’s economy during a UN security council meeting.

Mrs Botchwey disclosed at the meeting in New York on Thursday, November 3, 2022 that managers of the economy have had to make very harsh sacrifices to keep things going.

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“The harsh sacrifices required, themselves, have become a source of instability and an invitation to malign actors,” she said.

Her comments, which were contained in her address as part of a series programme to mark Ghana's assumption of the presidency of the UN security council for November, also acknowledged that many other African countries were facing hard times.

“The road back to robust growth..." she said is “a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

“We have to either impose IMF-guided austerity, potentially leading to labour retrenchment and accompanying social instability, as witnessed in Argentina and elsewhere, or home-grown yet equally tough decisions to satisfy the markets and, hopefully, pave the way back to a functioning economy,” she said.

An unstable local petroleum market, skyrocketing inflation and the cedi's persistent fall have plunged Ghanaians into the worse period of high cost of living.

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Ghana has approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion financial bailout but people with insights in such deals say the country is have hard time at the negotiation table.

Currently, inflation has been officially given as 37.2% by Ghana Statistical Service although some experts say the rate is close to four times more.

Fuel Price Increments: Petrol, Diesel Prices Jump To Almost Gh¢18 And Gh¢24 Per Litre

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh has reported in a separate story that fuel prices at the pumps have been increased again after they went up twice in the month of October 2022.

The increments saw petrol prices hitting Gh¢17.99 per litre, with diesel now selling for Gh¢23.

These increments are coming at a time crude oil prices on the world market have remained below $100 per barrel for more than two months.

Source: YEN.com.gh