Finance minister survives vote of no confidence, blames bad economy on Covid-19

Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta survived a vote of no confidence in parliament on Thursday after the opposition accused him of conflict of interest and incompetence in managing the economy.

The West African country is battling its worst cost of living crisis that has seen inflation rise to 40%.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta has denied any wrongdoing, and has attributed the crisis to the combined impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In parliament on Thursday, only 136 opposition MPs voted for the motion of no confidence after the majority MPs staged a walkout ahead of the vote.

The constitutional threshold of two-thirds majority is 183 MPs.

Ghana is negotiating a $3bn (£2.4bn) bail-out plan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stabilise the economy.

It has been asked to restructure its domestic debt as part of conditions to secure the bail-out, but investors have expressed some concerns.

Source: BBC 

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