Senior Economist and Director of the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana, Professor Peter Quartey has intimated that the government must be disciplined and prudent in managing the economy given the precarious fiscal position currently faced by the country.

The call comes on the back of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) holding the Inaugural lecture of Professor Quartey as an inducted Full Fellow of the Academy on March 13,2025 at its premises in Accra.

The colourful and well attended event attracted members of the Academy, Board members, academics, students drawn from Wesley Grammar High School, Accra Academy, Presec Legon, journalists and members of the general public for the momentous occasion.

The Lecture was on the theme “Debt, Investment And Growth In Ghana: Did We Borrow To Consume?

Speaking as the Keynote Speaker, Professor Peter Quartey revealed that over the years, most governments are fixated on spending state resources on projects and programmes which might not be the needed solutions that need to turn the economy around and generate adequate returns to create sustainable jobs that keeps the economically viable population engaged in productive work in the long run.

These investments which might not be well thought through in terms of viability and feasibility over a long term tend to create fiscal imbalances that the government budget struggles to cater for in line with proper economic management practices, which becomes burdensome on the shoulders of the state.

” In my many years of professional and teaching practice as an Economist, I have come across some projects and programmes started by numerous governments which have not generated enough returns or value to create sustainable jobs for the youth of this country, this situation creates a double whammy of both insecurity and debt for the state.

Most at times, these policies and programmes are activated just because political parties in seeking power, tell the Electorate big things which ordinarily cannot be supported by our meagre budgetary resources in the long run but are implemented just to suit their political base without full recourse to the fiscal imbalances, such decisions leave on the financial health of the nation.

Such rash decision making by political authorities has resulted in alot of avoidable liabilities on the books of the state and adds up to the huge debt burden by the country to the tune of billion of dollars”.

Also, Professor Quartey intimated that political actors in taking decisions on the economy must always be guided by credible and unimpeachable data out out by credible state institutions like the Ghana Statistical Service to inform sound policy formation which creates value for the important sectors of the economy.

He believes that project rationalization as well as resource optimization must be a cardinal principle when it comes to government allocating  projects and infrastructure development across the country.

” I will entreat the government and it’s agencies to be fully switched on with using credible data generated by official state institutions like the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in crafting programmes and policies they intend to implement for the benefit of all citizens.

By so doing, the use of such water tight data will go a long way to improve decision making in all spheres of economic planning that takes into cognizance, the effective and efficient use of scarce national resources by duty  bearers for full optimization of same.

The days of cutting sod for projects across the country, without having dedicated funding must be a thing of the past in order to prevent corruption and wastage of resources that be can channeled into more pressing issues that also require  state action as well”.