Form a National Economic Rescue Team to Resolve Economic Challenges – Dr. Duffuor Proposes

Former Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, has proposed the establishment of a National Economic Rescue Team to help find immediate and lasting solutions to the current economic challenges.

He said the depth of the economic crisis and the ongoing attempt to restructure the domestic debt towards macroeconomic stability and recovery of the economy call for the establishment of an economic recovery team.

“This is so because it has been established that no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created the problems, hence there is a need for the establishment of an economic national rescue team to resolve the present crisis,” he added.

Dr Duffuor, who is also a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, said this in an interview with Daily Graphic in Accra last Thursday.

National, non-political

The former Finance Minister, who had a stint with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, USA as an Economist in the African Department, said the proposed rescue team, which should be national in character and non-political should comprise of experienced bankers, insurance executives, successful business people, university professors in the field of banking and business, and respectable statesmen with experience in governance.

Such personalities, he said, should be ready to offer selfless and voluntary services to bring relief to the people without expecting anything in return, either in cash or in kind.

He said the people who would constitute the rescue team must also be focused and ready to serve and have the proven record and integrity.

Dr Duffuor, who was named as one of the four best Central Bank Governors in the World at an IMF/World Bank meeting in 1999 (Euromoney Publication), observed that the economic situation in which the citizenry found themselves was dire, hence the need for an immediate response to bring relief to the people.

He, therefore, called on the President to consider constituting the team immediately to help resolve the economic crisis.

Indicating his readiness to offer himself when called upon, the economist said that would be a service to bring the economy back on a sound footing.

” I am ready to offer that voluntary service to the nation at this point in time when called upon. I will offer the experience that I gained from managing the economy, from the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank and my think-thank, the Institute of Fiscal Studies, and in macroeconomics free of charge to help bring relief to the people”, he stated.

Economic growth

Taking a broader look at the economy, the former Finance Minister said from 2009 to 2012, the economy enjoyed a period of stability, rapid expansion, low unemployment, high business and consumer confidence, and strong fiscal policy.

Providing statistics to back this position, he said, there was an exceptional economic growth which averaged nine per cent and remained the highest under any political administration in the country’s history while non-oil economic growth averaged 7.4 per cent also the highest under any administration.

Dr Duffuor indicated that during that period cocoa production reached one million tonnes in the 2010-2011 season with sustained price stability, with inflation in single digit for 31 consecutive months starting from June 2010 to December 2012.

That, he said, also remained the longest period of single-digit inflation in the Fourth