The Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament has raised concerns over the acute shortage of foreign exchange, particularly US dollars, which it says is negatively impacting traders across the country.
According to the Minority, the inability of traders to access forex is hindering import activities, especially as the country heads toward the peak Christmas season. They are therefore demanding answers from the government ahead of the mid-year budget review presentation.
Speaking in an interview with NR NEWS, former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Member of Parliament for Atewa East, Abena Osei Asare, said Ghanaians particularly traders—deserve an explanation from the government regarding the current forex crisis and how it plans to address the situation.
Hon. Osei Asare, who also chairs the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, said the Minority does not expect anything extraordinary from the government when Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson delivers the mid-year review.
She criticised the Mahama-led NDC government for what she described as a lack of tangible progress on the numerous initiatives outlined in the 2025 Budget and Policy Statement.
“These so-called flagship programmes such as the Big Push agenda, the 24-Hour Economy, and the Nkukonkitinkiti project have not yielded any meaningful results,” she asserted.
The former Deputy Finance Minister further cited the non-payment of contractors and the stalling of major infrastructure projects, including schools and hospitals across the country as evidence of the government’s poor fiscal performance.
Touching on the IMF credit facility, Madam Asare noted that out of eleven structural benchmarks required under the programme, the government has only met three, a development she described as worrying.
