American economist, Prof. Steve Hanke has resumed his attacks on Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta critiquing the Minister’s resort to Biblical references to back his belief of an economic resurgence.
In a January 2, 2023 tweet in which Hanke posted a story by the Economist titled “Ghana has struck a preliminary IMF deal and halted debt payments,” the economist quoted a Biblical reference the Minister made late last year.
“Ghana’s Finance Minister Ofori-Atta justified defaulting on debt by quoting the Bible: “nothing will be lost, nothing will be missing.”
“The Bible is a poor guide for macroeconomics. It’s time for Ofori-Atta to stop bamboozling Ghanaians and get real,” he emphasized.
The Biblical reference was used by Ofori-Atta when he announced a Domestic Debt Exchange program, one of the key conditions that led to a government and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Staff-Level Agreement days later.
The government suffered a backlash from labor, especially over the plan to include pensions in the Exchange program, which plan has been revoked with individual bondholders now impacted.
