Economist and Board Chairman of MTN Ghana, Dr Ishmael Yamson, has backed the government’s Gold for Reserves programme as part of the measures needed to protect Ghana’s recent economic gains.

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Dr Yamson said Ghana’s history of economic instability makes it difficult for investors to believe that the current improvements can be sustained.

“They’ve seen the history. They know what it is. We go up, we come down. We take three years to build, and we take another five years to destroy.”

But he believes the current situation is different. “If you ask me, I would say it is different this time.”

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Dr Yamson said the government deserved credit for the economic improvements recorded in its first 18 months in office.

“First of all, let me congratulate this government for what it has achieved in 18 months. We haven’t achieved that level of economic stability before. It’s just dramatic, and it is worth commending them.”

He acknowledged that the IMF programme and debt restructuring may have contributed to the current stability.

“Well, it is possible. It is right to make those assumptions.” But for him, the bigger issue is whether the gains can survive beyond the short term. “You won’t get sustainability unless you build resilience.”

Dr Yamson said successive governments had largely focused on stabilising the economy without building the structures needed to preserve those gains.

“In the past, you would find that most of literally all our governments did what they could do in the short term to stabilise the economy. Didn’t go the next step to ensure that they create the pillars that will hold the economy into the longer period.”

📰 Source: Joy Online Ghana