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Tag: Prof. Godfred Bokpin

  • We are unable to admit wrongdoing after 66 years of independence – Prof Bokpin on SONA

    We are unable to admit wrongdoing after 66 years of independence – Prof Bokpin on SONA

    Politicians must learn to accept responsibility for their acts, according to an economist and professor of finance at the University of Ghana Business School.

    Prof. Godfred Bokpin asserts that it has become common for politicians to attribute their failures to anything but themselves.

    “It’s not only this government, if you look at the narrative from 1992 across the two major political parties, it’s as though the marking scheme is blaming it on others, don’t admit wrongdoing,” he told the media on Wednesday.

    His comments come on the back President Akufo-Addo’s State of the Nation Address on March 8.

    The President in his address said Ghana’s economy was performing until it was hit by Covid-19.

    On the back of this, Professor Bokpin said although the President had admitted that the economy was faced with challenges, he had failed to assume responsibility for the crisis.

    “Whilst we agree with the President that we are in an economic mess we disagree with the President on what has brought us here and this is where Ghana’s immaturity shows up again.

    “After 66 years of independence, we are unable to admit wrongdoing and own up as responsible adults who are capable of managing our own country and that is unfortunate,” he told host, Evans Mensah.

    The Economist explained that the government’s claim that Covid-19 was the major cause of the hardship, was false.

    “It’s as though you are majoring on the minor and the reason, we are saying is that Russia – Ukraine is a global issue, the impact is pervasive. Covid-19 is a pandemic, the impact is pervasive, you also see marginality in how countries were affected by this twin development.”

    “It is in the level of the marginality that you are able to see the difference in the resilience of one economy compared to the other economy.

    “So, it takes shocks of this global proportions to reveal local vulnerabilities so you see economies that are sustained by words and propaganda and the once that are real on the ground. So, when pandemics of this nature strike that is when you will see countries that have pursued good and sound policies over the years,” he said.

    He added that the fundamental of Ghana’s economy was doing well until the exit from the IMF programme.

    Professor Bokpin stressed that the government under the guise of Covid-19 incurred debt.

    “Ghana unlike any other country decided to monetise the virus. Ghana took advantage of the virus to mess up. In the name of Covid we overspent actually trying to win over electorates in 2020 elections…Whilst Cote Ivoire and the others were running deficits in the same Covid year of less far less than 10 %, Ghana did an excess of 15 %.. How do you explain this?” he quizzed.

  • Time to break free from corruption and nepotism – Bokpin

    Time to break free from corruption and nepotism – Bokpin

    A finance lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Prof. Godfred Bokpin, has asserted that Ghana cannot celebrate its independence as long as social and economic advancement are still constrained by fraud and injustice.

    In his opinion, these deeply rooted societal vices that are being left uncontrolled are what’s causing the current economic downturn.

    Speaking to the media, Prof. Bokpin said “I think that what is also important is that merely spending on independence means nothing. We need clear timelines and targets to guide our next celebration and more importantly, during the 67th celebration, we should look forward to gaining independence from corruption, nepotism and low productivity.”

    “We must look forward to something worth celebrating. It is not enough to spend millions of Ghana cedis to celebrate every 12 months. There are challenges and so if we can’t gain independence from corruption then, it is not worth celebrating anything anymore.”

    Ghana’s economic metrics have recently been on the decline, with over 50% inflation and a depreciating cedi driving up living expenses.

    In order to help the economy recover, the government has been forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion extended loan facility.

    The government has implemented a domestic debt exchange program as part of steps to rescue the faltering economy and to satisfy the requirements of the IMF for assistance.

    “What it is for us is to use the celebration to look at what the major misses are and what the major hits have been. But if you look at our trajectory since independence, it doesn’t look like we have gained independence. We have been lying to ourselves all this while. Whatever we sought to gain from our independence in 1957 in terms of having control and direction of our economy have not been achieved.”

    “Ghana has out of these 66 years spent quality time under the direction, guidance and supervision of the West.  So we should really think of independence. We have not been able to turn the aspirations and intents into real sustainable development,” Prof. Bokpin added.

  • Increase in VAT will affect the vulnerable most – Prof. Bokpin

    Increase in VAT will affect the vulnerable most – Prof. Bokpin

    An economist, Prof. Godfred Bokpin, has issued a warning that the implementation of the new increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate could have a severe impact on the society’s most vulnerable members as prices for products and services rise.

    The 2023 budget was presented by the Finance Minister, who also announced a rise in VAT from 12.5 percent to 15 percent.

    The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has stated that it is prepared to put the policy into effect. But in response to the VAT rise, Prof. Bokpin said that since the poor will be severely hurt, household savings may also decrease.

    “VAT rate increases is going to affect consumption. At the end of the day, it is also going to affect the savings mobilisation effort of consumers. When these things happen they affect the poor”.

    He claimed that because food makes up a sizable portion of the inflation basket, an increase in VAT will have an impact on essential commodities like food.

    “If you look at data from Ghana Statistical Service, between 42 and 44 percent of household expenditure is on food and depending on where you buy your food, there may be VAT”, he said.

    He explained that a critical calculation of consumption tax in Ghana puts the figure above 20 percent since GETFund and the NHIL are all taxes imposed on goods.

    This, he said will cause prices to go up as traders pass on the taxes to consumers.

    “If you put all of this together, VAT alone at 21% or depending on where you find yourself in certain times of the year. Don’t forget there will be tourism levy, and other taxes”, he said.

    Parliament passes new VAT rate

    The Value Added Tax (VAT) rate increase of 2.5 percent was approved by Parliament on December 22, 2022.

    When introducing the 2023 Budget, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta stated that the review would directly assist government initiatives for digitisation and road construction projects.

    Chairman of the Finance Committee Kwaku Kwarteng praised the tax policy during a debate on the subject in front of the entire House of Representatives.

    According to him, the reason of the Minority’s opposition has been considered and incorporated under paragraph 6.3 of the committee’s report, adding that the recommendation by the committee was a majority decision.