Cabinet had its first regular quarterly retreat for 2022 from 18th to 20th March at Peduase, concluding in Accra on Monday, 21st March. During the retreat, Cabinet deliberated extensively on a number of issues and approved a number of measures to support current efforts to address the challenges we are facing. Also on Monday, March 21st 2022, the Bank of Ghana announced a number of complementary, monetary measures to address the rising cost of goods and services on the market and the worrying performance of the cedi against major currencies such as the Pound Sterling, Euro and Dollar.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is important to stress, right from the onset, that the difficulties we are facing in Ghana are not peculiar to Ghana.It should also be stressed that several governments in both developed and developing countries are busily coming out with various prescriptions to bring their economies back on track, after the devastating impact of COVID-19 which distorted global supply chains, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
If we look at the world today, there are two clear forces shaping global events: the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine. With the virus, the records show that our decision to focus first on protecting lives and then livelihoods has paid off. By February, globally some 7.03% of those infected by Covid-19 had died. For Africa the figure was 4.03% (251,444 people). In comparison, less than 0.89% (1,445 people) of infected people died in Ghana.
Against all odds, but due to firm leadership, bold initiatives and responsive citizens, Ghana has so far “collectively” managed the virus remarkably well. But, we knew that Ghana, like most countries in the world, had a tall list of coronavirus-induced bills to pay from 2020 and 2021 and came out with plans and policies to boost investor confidence and job prospects for 2022 and beyond. As you recall, we lost Ghs13.1 billion of revenue and had to increase our expenditure by GHS14.2 billion with combined fiscal impact of GHS26 billion (6.8% of GDP)