Throwing mud at ourselves

There is a worrying emerging trend in our national political discourse, which is very cancerous, with debilitating effects on our economy.

As a nation, we are already bearing the brunt of this cancer: It is the cancer of politicising issues of the economy.

It is so bad that it is practically impossible to have a dispassionate and an objective discussion on the economy without political colouration.

What is even worse is that a fair assessment and candid opinion on the economy is not taken kindly by political actors, especially from the two biggest political parties — the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Thanks to these two parties every discussion has been reduced to either championing the cause of one or undermining the other.

Currently, Ghana is paying dearly for the way we have conducted ourselves, especially how we talk down the economy and politicise every discussion about it.

This unhealthy development has not inured to our benefit in the global financial markets.

A fact many Ghanaians do not know is that our economy is perceived within the global financial markets as high risk and that largely accounts for why we pay very high coupon rates for our foreign bonds and other sovereign debts.

Sadly, though, we are always ready to tout our strong democratic credentials while proudly boasting of the fact that our country is peaceful and stable.

What is lost on all of us is that our investors and potential investors in our bonds and national economy are not interested in that.

The truth is that in their assessment of a country’s risk profile, they are interested in what the local media write, say or show about the economy and the country in general. The more negative and damning the reports are, the higher the risk profile of the country.

It is for this reason that less democratically endowed countries such as Rwanda are perceived to have a very low-risk profile. In those countries, they speak well of their economies, instead of talking them down as we do here.

As a result, the global financial markets will rank Rwanda as being more attractive to fund managers and investors than Ghana and it will pay less interest rates than Ghana on any given day.

This is why we should be circumspect in our discourse on the economy.

Currently, the biggest challenge confronting our country is interest payments.

Is it not a shame that a country that is trying hard to bring down fiscal deficit has to pay so much in interest?

To bring the issue home, Ghana pays almost 25 pesewas out of every cedi generated on interest alone on its debts.

We at GRAPHIC BUSINESS believe that as a nation, we must be a bit circumspect when we publicly discuss the economy. Ghana is bleeding profusely from the unguided and ill-motivated statements made by our political leaders and some of their followers in reference to the economy. 

The earlier we stopped this, the better it would be for the economy and, by extension, the country and we the citizens.