Covid-19 Pandemic Cannot Be Compared To ‘Dumsor’ – Stephen Amoah
The Nhyiaeso MP, Stephen Amoah, has stated that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country cannot be compared to that of the power crisis experienced under the Mahama administration.
He maintained that the economic hardships affecting growth and productivity in the state are primarily driven by the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis, conditions he reckons outweigh the ‘dumsor’ issues.
According to him, the country would have been in tatters had the National Democratic Congress (NDC) been in power under the current circumstances.
He stated that the party’s management of the electricity crisis was poor to be compared to the pandemic.
“Don’t let us talk as if this is unprecedented. If NDC has been in power, I don’t think they could have done anything better. The condition you are saying under NDC, the dumsor crisis; you can never compare that to today.
“I don’t think we had a situation where hotels, restaurants, market women were asked not to come out at all and stay home to impair productivity; they are different, even if you consider debt alone and not GDP,” he said.
In an interview on Newsfile monitored by wontumionline.com, the Parliament Finance Committee member said the challenges in the economy must not be politicised but should be tackled holistically.
“There is this issue which is very wrong. One of the most fundamental anomalies disturbing us as a country, which cuts across, is that all successive governments often borrow on our domestic markets at a higher interest rate than even the private sector.
“This is destroying GUTA, AGI, investments and others. I haven’t seen anywhere, at least not the developed economies, that T-bills can give returns higher than the risky assets from the private sector, so it’s one of the areas we should also look at. It’s a global situation so let us appreciate these things in the context I am talking about,” he urged.