Accra, Nov. 5, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has conferred with the leadership of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) and representatives of the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to get their responses in resolving the current economic crisis.
The meetings form part of wider consultations being undertaken by the President with economic players and stakeholders prior to the conclusion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) negotiations by the government for an assistance programme and the presentation of the 2023 budget.
The consultation is to seek collective action as the country responds to and recovers from the crisis.
“All of us are aware of the difficulties that our economy finds itself and the efforts that are being made by this government to address these difficulties, “the president said at separate meetings with the two parties at the Jubilee House, Accra at the weekend
“All of us are aware of the difficulties that our economy finds itself and the efforts that are being made by this government to address these difficulties, “the president said at separate meetings with the two parties at the Jubilee House, Accra at the weekend
“I don’t think that that effort will succeed unless it is guided and influenced by a broad consultative process as possible,” he said but assured that the government was taking the needed steps to restore normalcy and stability.
In preliminary interaction with the GBA before the meeting went behind closed doors , the President said it was no secret that the country was in considerable difficulty and “we are having to find an antidote and see our way out of it.”
“We have decided amongst other measures to approach the IMF to solicit their assistance to put our balance of payment and our public finances back on an even keel… And beyond that measures that we need to take that would be encapsulated in our budgets which is coming later on in the month.”
The President told the GBA representatives that owing to the “very sensitive and difficult situation” in the country, for the Government’s policy to be meaningful and impactful, the consultations that have to go into the upcoming budget ought to be broad-based as possible.
“You are one of the most important civil society organizations in the country historically for years, and I think it would be difficult to conclude this process of consultation without meeting with you and getting from you also the particular take that you have of where we are and what you would like to see us do,” he said.
In his interaction with the CSO’s, President Akufo-Addo indicated that he invited them as an important constituency in the governance process, to get their input on the steps his administration was taking to resolve the current economic crisis.
“It will be difficult after you meet the economic operators, private sector people not to meet those of you who are guarding the morality and public governance of our country,” he said, adding that there was the need to aggregate the thoughts of the nation to restore stability and growth.
The President has over the past two weeks met economic players and stakeholders including the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Association of Ghana Industries, the Ghana Employers Association, religious bodies, traditional authorities, and the National Union of Ghana Students among others, to get their buy-in to measures to bring the current economic crisis to a head.
GNA