President John Dramani Mahama has inaugurated the Presidential Advisory Group on the Economy (PAGE), tasking them to help rebuild and restore the credibility of the Ghanaian economy.

According to President Mahama, Ghana has failed to correct its economic mistakes of the past and has in recent years further impaired that credibility of the economy with bad decisions.

President Mahama (middle) with the PAGE members after the inauguration

Inaugurating the PAGE at the Presidency in Accra yesterday, President Mahama said Ghana faced a tough economic road ahead regardless of the progress it may have chalked up to date.

The country finds itself again in debt distress after having previously declared HIPC and solemnly swore never to return to such a position. That experience should have permanently altered the country’s fiscal culture, but unfortunately instead, it dissipated significant buffers and stabilisers that would have shielded citizens from the painful domestic debt haircuts they ultimately had to endure, he noted.

After emerging as a petroleum economy, President Mahama said it was unfortunate that policy inconsistencies and investor uncertainty drove away investors to competing jurisdictions, leading to declining crude oil outputs, coupled with mismanagement of state-owned enterprises.

“Our task now is correction without amnesia. Learning from both our successes and failures, your counsel must help us rebuild credibility, restore fiscal discipline, attract investments, re-anchor expectations and reestablish Ghana as a serious and predictable competitive economy,” he charged.

The 12-member Committee, chaired by the president himself, amongst others, is expected to provide strategic counsel on macroeconomic management, fiscal consolidation, debt sustainability, and coherent fiscal and monetary policy.

“You are to advise on structural transformation, industrial development, competitive and export-led growth strategies.

“PAGE is also charged with offering guidance on sectorial development, private sector expansion, investment mobilisation and sustainable job creation,” the President outlined.

“In addition, you are to conduct periodic assessment of Ghana’s economic performance, propose policy adjustments where necessary and contribute expect inputs to Ghana’s economic negotiations and engagement with bilateral and multilateral partners,” he added.

On behalf of the committee, the Vice President, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, who is also a member, said they’ll execute their mandate to ensure the term economy reflected in the lives of Ghanaians.

“Beyond an abstract concept, it should mean many things—stability for the teacher in the classroom and the nurse on night duty, fair price and reliable markets for the farmer, predictable cost and access to credit to the trader, small business owner, stable incomes, and affordable housing for the worker and opportunity for young persons and women, security for the labourer and decent care for the elderly,” she indicated.

Other members of the Committee are Ismael Yamson, Kwame Pianim, private sector leaders; MS Nana Oye Mansa Yeboaa, a former deputy minister of finance and a former deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana; Dr Kwabena Duffuor, former governor of the Bank of Ghana; and Sir Samuel Esson Jonah, an industrialist.

The rest are Ato Brown, a former World Bank infrastructure specialist, Dr Henry Kofi Wampah, former governor, Bank of Ghana, Togbui Afede XIV, economist, Ms Abena Amoah, CEO, Ghana Stock Exchange, and Professors Priscilla Twumasi Baffour and Patience Aseweh Abor.