Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast: Participants to discuss way out of economic challenges

The quarter four edition of the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting tomorrow will offer participants a unique opportunity to proffer solutions to help take the economy out of its present challenges, the acting Editor of the Graphic Business, Charles Benoni Okine, has assured.

According to him, the event at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra is being held ahead of the presentation of the 2023 Budget which is currently at the preparation stage.

Mr Okine said the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is meeting stakeholders from various quarters to solicit their input into the budget, adding that our platform will also help in that process because it will, as usual, assemble some of the best brains in the country to offer suggestions that will help to change the fortunes of the economy.

Theme

The pre-budget meeting, to be held on the theme: “17 Times too many! What should we stop doing and start doing as a people?” is expected to attract personalities from academia, civil society organisations, international organisations, trade associations, among others.

Arguably the most patronised and influential thought-leadership event in the country, the theme has been divided into three main perspectives to offer panel members the opportunity to discuss in detail the issues and proffer solutions for consideration in the budget.

They are: “The Challenge; What is, Has been and Why”; “Alternative Homegrown Solutions, Options and Requirements” and “What Ghana Must Do Differently”.

President’s call

Mr Okine described the call by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for all to rally behind the government to find lasting solutions to the present economic challenges as one in the right direction and urged all to contribute ideas in that direction.

“The country is for all of us,” he said, adding that the challenges we are facing are as a result of some factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and the raging Russia/Ukraine war.”

Mr Okine said since the whole country was feeling what he described as the ‘heat’, we all needed to come together to discuss how best we could address the challenges, hence the platform provided with the support of Stanbic Bank, to give Ghanaians the opportunity to make an input.

He appealed to those who might not be physically present at the event to join the Graphic and Stanbic Bank social media handles from where they could make their inputs for consideration.

Mr Okine said the recommendations from previous breakfast meetings had gone a long way to shape government policy in many sectors and expressed the hope that this quarter’s event edition would be no different.

Meanwhile, ahead of the event tomorrow, Maxwell Akalaare Adombila reports that an international economic consultant, Dr Emmanuel Kumah, has called for a “ruthless approach” to expenditure cuts to help create some breathing space for public finances and set in motion a credible process to economic recovery.

The former Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the spending cuts must be immediate and targeted at reducing the size of government to create a lean, mean and efficient body that reflected the austerity that the economic challenges had imposed.

Dr Kumah told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the expenditure cuts through a reduced size of government and the rationalisation of the flagship programmes would be one of his three top priority recommendations on how the country could recover from its present economic state.

He said the other two would be to quickly revamp revenue collections through the rationalisation of existing tax handles, as well as urgent appeals to the country’s bilateral creditors for concessionary loans to plug the deficit.

“If I should do two things, then it will be to take a comb and go through the structure of government and try to consolidate, limit, reduce or collapse ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), their allowances and do everything that I can to make sure that it does not grow again.

“Then, I can look at the revenue side and see how to efficiently collect more,” he said.