According to the Health Minister, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on the country’s economy, and the Akufo-Addo-led government will need time to fix the economy.
Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman- Manu has said the Akufo-Addo-led government has done better in managing the country’s economy, than the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government despite the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Health Minister, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on the country’s economy, and the Akufo-Addo-led government will need time to fix the economy.
Speaking at a Press Conference held in Accra on Wednesday, 9 February 2022, Mr Agyeman-Manu said: “We will fix the country but we need time to deal with the effects COVID-19 has on our economy.”
He further disproved claims that government is not working on fixing the economy of the country.
The Minister noted that: “Productivity was impacted, cash flow impacted, trading that brings us a lot of revenue in our country through the ports were eventually stopped. We couldn’t get imports from China because of lockdowns and factory closures, so trade charges started escalating and when trade charges go up we are importing inflation and definitely we will feel our country is accumulating hardships.”
According to the Minister, Ghanaians are more fixated on forming movements to call on government to fix the country instead of evaluation the impact of the pandemic on the economy.
“Tourism suffered the most, that is part of the impact of COVID on our economy, but we have stopped evaluating this and we’ve gone ahead to form a movement – Fix the Country. We will fix the country but we need time,” the Health Minister stated.
The Minister also called on persons who are yet to take the COVID-19 vaccine to do so as it forms part of measures adopted by government.
“When we get ourselves vaccinated, it will give us confidence to be able to get people back to work fully and see how productivity will move and see how our economy will grow to get yourselves back on track.”
In spite of the challenges, however, he said Ghana is one of the countries that successfully managed the pandemic effectively, this he said is evident by the success chalked in other areas in the health sector.
The Minister added that: “I won’t say the previous government didn’t do well, they tried but they didn’t get far. We are doing better even in times of COVID.
“You can see mortality reducing even in the midst of COVID and that is a success story so despite the fact that we were struggling we still had a cohort of workers doing their work.”
