President Akufo Addo has bemoaned the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation’s resources.
According to him, the uncertainties surrounding the disease has thrown the 2020 budget out of gear, saying the government’s plans and policies for the year have to be amended.
“The 2020 budget, which was made in November, was predicated on a 65-dollar barrel oil. Today, we now know that oil is 18, 19, 20, 21 dollars a barrel, so, even that statistics should tell you what a big hole has been created as a result.”
Speaking at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, 6 May 2020, President Akufo-Addo explained that “I think it is important that everyone in the country knows that the government is one of the biggest, if not the hardest hit by this pandemic”, adding: “We have huge parts of revenues that have gone out of the window, as a result of this pandemic”.
So far, the virus has claimed some 18 lives out of the 2,719 people infected.