The Minority in Parliament has slammed President Nana Akufo-recent Addo’s statements targeting foreign rating agencies.
President Akufo-Addo expressed his displeasure with the reckless downgrades made by rating agencies during the 30th anniversary celebration of the African Export-Import Bank in Accra, stating that they are detrimental to developing countries like Ghana and have contributed to the country’s current economic challenges.
President Akufo-Addo emphasised the importance of the ratings, saying he is “the AU champion for African financial institutions and the leader of a country that recently had to deal with one of the most difficult periods in his post-independence history, difficulties that were exacerbated by the reckless behaviour of rating agencies that engaged in pro-cyclical downgrades that shut Ghana out of the capital market and turned a liquidity crisis into a solvency crisis.”
In reaction to the president’s remarks, Isaac Adongo, the Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, called Akufo-Addo dishonest.
Adongo argued that these ratings are an integral part of the accepted global financial systems. He pointed out that when the rating agencies had assigned high ratings to Ghana in the past, the country had benefited by successfully accessing the capital markets and securing significant investments.
“You see the dishonesty, when the rating agencies were rating us high and we were going to the capital markets and showing them the rating of Ghana and collecting the $3 billion, were we in bed with them to deceive the investors? What have the rating agencies said that is not true?
“They should tell that man [Akufo-Addo] that rating is not a diplomatic manoeuvre, he should stop going around his peers and telling them stories. The rating agencies and the capital market predates his own life and it is part of the global financial system that has come to be accepted. He has been a beneficiary of it.”
