Former Finance Minister during the John Dramani Mahama led administration Seth Tekper has expressed shock at the Vice President’s attempt to blame Ghana’s economic failure on the wars in Ukraine and Russia.
The Vice President of Ghana while addressing TESCON members Thursday indicated that it’s a known fact that the war between Russia and Ukraine has had a toll on the local economy.
He indicated that prices have skyrocketed and even some goods imported from those countries are not in stock at the moment therefore adding to the already suffering economy.
“The increase in commodity prices has been exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russia and Ukraine together account for 30 per cent of the global wheat export. The longer the conflict the greater will be the disruptions to global food supply. The country is also likely to slow global growth.
“According to the AfDB the price of wheat has shot up by 62 per cent since the war begun. The price of fertilizer is up by 300 per cent, the price of maize is up by 36 per cent since the war begin . Here in Ghana 60 per cent of our total imports of iron ore and steel are from Ukraine.
“Russia accounts for some 30 per cent of Ghana’s imported grains, 50 per cent of flour and 39 per cent of fertilizer . So we are directly affected by the Russia-Ukraine ware. Unfortunately, we do not know when it will be over. The global increase in fuel prices is causing hardship.”
Reacting to the position expressed by the Vice President of Ghana, Seth Tekper in a tweet indicated that Ghana’s economy has been struggling for the past four years and therefore it’s ridiculous that the Vice President will blame a few months old war for its failure.
He prayed for an end to the war in order for the government to sit up and stop blaming it for its failure.
His Tweet read “Reminder: Russia-Ukraine war started in only late Feb (one month ago) and being blamed for past 4-year’s failures? God forbid for a prolonged war yet how ready are we for its full impact in the weeks and months?”