The Minister of Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond, has urged Ghanaians to remain calm and resolute as they wait for the 2024 budget statement to be delivered in Parliament on Wednesday, November 15, as it contains good economic relief.
He was proud to announce that the budget to be read by the Minister of Finance, Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta, will bring back macroeconomic stability.
KT Hammond made these comments on Tuesday, November 7, while speaking to pressmen in his constituency, Adansi Asokwa, in the Ashanti Region.
“By December, the budget, which I am fully aware of because I am a member of the Economic Management Team, will be delivered in November. When you listen and see how we put measures in place, you will clap for the Akufo-Addo government,” he said in the local parlance.
KT Hammond, as affectionately called, admitted the current economic crisis occasioned by the deadly global pandemic, COVID-19, in 2020.
The legislator indicated that he took solace in President Akufo-Addo’s statement at the peak of the pandemic: “Lives cannot be brought back when lost, but the economy can be restored when destroyed”.
He has the greatest conviction that after the 2024 budget has been implemented, the economy will surely bounce back to make life enjoyable for Ghanaians.
He chastised critics who are lambasting the government for going for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying the World Bank is there for every member country.
“It is money for the whole world. Even advanced countries go for some, in large tunes, and when we go for small, it becomes a topical matter.”
KT Hammond took over from then-Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen when he resigned from his post in January this year.
He has since been part of the government’s EMT.
He has assured the citizenry jobs in the coming years, insisting that the economy will take full advantage going into 2024.
Speaking at the Ghana Mutual Prosperity Dialogues (GMPD) in Accra last Thursday, the Minister of Trade and Industry urged Ghanaians to exercise restraint to see the economy bounce back.