Press Release

November 10, 2013

On the Economy, from Dr. George Ayittey

 I have been traveling—giving speeches, making presentations and doing research.

The first stop was Paris, where I interacted with students at the University of Paris-Dauphine. Here is the link to the event. http://www.dauphine.fr/fr/actus/evenements/conferences-bbc/inscription.html

Then I left for the Ghana Investment Summit on Oct 29th, which was organized by the Economist magazine. http://bit.ly/1bXRkQ1. But Ghana, which is supposed to be a rising African economic star is not doing well. The trends are ominous and the country seems to be drifting:

· Of the countries in the world with a free press, Ghana has just been ranked the third most corrupt by Gallup.

· The growth rate is slowing down. The 14.4 percent rate of growth chalked up in 2011 is now down to 7.1 percent;

· The debt levels are unsustainably high: Total debt is 49.3 percent of GDP; the 2013 budget deficit is 12 percent of GDP

· Fitch, an international credit rating agency, has twice downgraded the country’s bond rating from B+ to a B;

· The IMF has warned the country is approaching a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) status;

· Foreign donors have cut budgetary support for Ghana;

· The Government is broke; it has no savings to finance capital expenditures;

· The people are suffering severe economic hardships and are losing confidence in the ability of the government and its institutions to resolve the looming crisis;

· The national Trade Union Congress has set Nov 18 as a date for a national strike to protest exorbitant utility tariffs.

Enough of the tomfoolery and buffoonery; Ghana's economy is being destroyed by reckless government over-spending. So I decided to hold a press conference on the state of Ghana’s economy and the looming crisis.

To my utter surprise, I made to the front page of the Daily Graphic, Nov 8 – Ghana’s premiere state-owned daily, http://bit.ly/HMl2Oi


Here are other links to my press conference in Ghana http://bit.ly/HB3mV0, http://bit.ly/1bdC8LD, http://bit.ly/1atxt7z, http://bit.ly/16Osu49, http://bit.ly/1baYroI

Dr.  George Ayittey

Free Africa Foundation

Washngton, DC, USA

 

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