The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is appealing to the Akufo-Addo administration to pump about GHc18 Billion into the country’s various sectors as part of measures to alleviate losses made due to the novel coronavirus.
According to the Union, some findings by its Labour Research and Policy Institute revealed some shocking effects of the COVID-19 health crisis on jobs and livelihoods in the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
Speaking on an Accra-based radio station, Director of Labour Research and Policy Institute of the TUC, Dr. Kwabena Nyarko Otoo said “The government needs to do more to revive the economy and also manage the potential job losses. One of the things we did was to estimate the loss of GDP that we are likely to experience because of COVID-19 and our estimation is based on the data provided by the Minister for Finance when he told Parliament that the 2020 GDP growth which was initially estimated at 6.6% will now be 1.5%.”
He noted although Government is facing some difficulties, it is confident, their request can be granted.
Mr. Otoo also advised government to consider printing enough cash into the system or borrow from the Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF).
He said “We went to borrow from the IMF with all the conditionality. If we were able to borrow from the IMF, it should be safer to ask government to borrow for the future. So that we replenish that fund when the COVID-19 storm is over.”
Story by: Mandy Woods
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