A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party(NPP), Gabby Otchere-Darko, is concerned about the economic nosedive of Ghana.
According to him, the economic hardship is very glaring no matter where one finds himself or herself across the globe.
‘The hassle is real. Whether global or not, it is real…,” Gabby Otchere-Darko tweeted.
The hassle is real. Whether global or not, it is real…
— Gabby Otchere-Darko (@GabbyDarko) August 13, 2022
Gabby’s comments come at the back of Ghana’s credit rating downgrade by two international rating agencies, with the third agency, Moody’s, also likely to publish a similar assessment.
S&P Global Ratings pushed Ghana’s debt further into speculative territory, lowering its foreign and local currency sovereign ratings to CCC+/C from B-/B.
S&P said its outlook for the country is negative, “reflecting Ghana’s limited commercial financing options, and constrained external and fiscal buffers.”
The Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict in Russia have magnified Ghana’s fiscal and external imbalances, S&P said.
The agency said demand for foreign currency had been driven higher by several factors, including nonresident outflows from domestic government bond markets, dividend payments to foreign investors, and higher costs for refined petroleum products.
The agency noted that the nation has also been affected by a lack of access to Eurobond markets.
This week, Ghana’s rating was downgraded by Fitch from B- to CCC, putting the country’s creditworthiness into junk status.
This update follows Standard and Poor’s (S&P) downgrade of Ghana’s foreign and local credit ratings from B-B’ to CCC+C with a negative economic outlook.
This generated conversation in the media over the retrogression of the economy.