“Road map to economic recovery must restore investors confidence” — Dr. Ankrah

 An investment banker has tasked economic managers with drawing up a precise, unmistakable road plan to revive the economy and guarantee long-term prosperity.

According to him, such a policy should focus on restoring investor confidence in the economy, particularly in light of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) execution, which had the potential to do so.

Dr. Sam Ankrah, who is also the president of the African Investment Group, stated that with economic confidence at an all-time low, practical investment plans with the ability to revive the most productive sectors of the economy and generate the necessary jobs would be needed to restore sustained growth in the economy.

He talked to the Daily Graphic in an interview before tomorrow’s Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra (Tuesday, 21st March).

DDEP: Lessons and Implications for How You Invest is the theme of the quarterly thought-leadership gathering, which will bring together specialists in the economy, capital markets, finance, and investment leaders to debate how the nation should look into measures to regain investor trust post-DDEP.

Investor confidence

According to Dr. Ankrah, the DDEP’s implementation had disorganized the investment plans of many investors, so “trust in the economy will be poor” by default.

According to him, to regain the investing public’s confidence and encourage investments back into the economy, the government must be open with the populace and put the required programs and policies into place more carefully and economically.

Although it is anticipated that an IMF agreement with the country will automatically restore market confidence and, after that, attract the necessary direct foreign investment to fill the funding gap, prudence is crucial, he said.

Dr. Ankrah added that “this shows that there is a need for severe measures to be implemented in both revenue mobilization and expense cutting,” pointing out that the government lacked the fiscal capacity due to debts to GDP being over 105 percent.

Dr. Ankrah cautioned that failure to implement such income and expenditure programs would further expose the administration and result in a loss of investor trust.

Event result

Dr. Ankrah hoped that the panelists would have the chance to suggest further proposals to help the government regain investor trust due to the event.

“No matter how bad the situation, all need to get on board to restore trust because the economy needs it, the people need it, and we cannot fail. Finally, we shouldn’t keep doing the same things and expecting different outcomes. This time, the administration must pay attention and put the advice of the experts into practice to turn the situation around, said Dr. Ankrah.

Speakers

Ghana Stock Exchange Managing Director Abena Amoah will preside over the event. Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, panelist Rev. Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh Dr. Daniel Seddoh, a former CEO of the NPRA, is a panelist and professor of development economics at the University of Ghana.

The Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Ms. Abena Amoah, will host the first quarter’s Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting.

Rev. Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will also discuss investments’ role in the national development agenda and its advantages for investors.

Festus Ebo Turkson, an associate professor of economics, will also present the causes of the DDEP, lessons learned, and preventative measures. Dr. Dan Seddoh, a former CEO of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) and a chartered accountant, will lecture on The Future of Investing and How to Recover Public Confidence.

Objectives

The event aims to examine the lessons and implications of the DDEP, which is required to obtain support for the economy from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As a result of the DDEP, about GH 87 billion of short-dated bonds with an average of 19% coupon rates were exchanged for long-dated bonds with an average of 9% yields.
The government is talking to its external creditors to give it the fiscal room to fulfill IMF requirements to obtain a US$3 billion budgetary bailout.

Source: Graphic Business