The success factors of Prez Nana Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assumed office at a time that expectations from ordinary Ghanaians are very high and almost ripe. This is understandable, given that his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), won the elections on the back of pledges to restore hope, stamp out corruption, ensure economic freedom and good governance.
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Key to his success will be the nature of the fiscal environment his administration will create and preside over.
President Akufo-Addo will need to create a flexible and disciplined fiscal regime that inspires private sector enthusiasm; an enthusiasm to grow and expand, employ more people and help push total economic output, measured by gross domestic product (GDP), to appreciable levels.
As a fledgling democracy with enormous potential for economic growth, Ghana's average annual growth rate of 3.5 per cent in recent years has been woefully inadequate.
This is why President Akufo-Addo needs to get it right at first and in all facets of governance.
On the economic front, the President will be expected to quickly rein in taxes, lubricate the economy through special interventions to the private sector and eliminate the age-old prickles of barriers that have long slowed down the growth of the Ghanaian entrepreneurship.
This is where we find his pledge to set fair rules and provide a vision that stimulates the creative juices of innovators heartwarming.
With Treasury bill rates already on the decline (from 22.84 per cent in August to 16.24 per cent on January 9, this year), inflation on a steady decline, and the cedi holding its own against major currencies, President Akufo-Addo has his job partly cut out, when it comes to creating and maintaining economic stability.
That notwithstanding, concerns about the implications of certain key campaign promises on the health of the economy still remain.
Top on that list is the pledge to restore allowances to nurses and teachers, absorb the cost of senior high school students and scrap certain taxes on the economy.
Although these are laudable initiatives to adopt and implement, given the ease they will bring to the affected persons, one needs to admit that their implementation stands the risk of placing the government on a slippery rope.
As a new administration, President Nana Akufo-Addo and his team will need to vigorously grow revenue, while keeping public expenditures within budget to avoid repeating the overruns that have long threatened the growth of the private sector.
Thus, simultaneously restoring nurses and teacher trainee allowances while removing taxes on the private sector, stand the greater risk of creating an economic imbalance that may be disingenuous to the health of the economy.
The GRAPHIC BUSINESS will, therefore, advise that President Nana Akufo-Addo staggers the implementation of some of the promises until such a time when the government has stabilised.
This, we believe, will help give a firmer footing to him and his administration to be able to contain the aftermath effects of these expenditure measures.
