The Director of Economic Research at policy think tank, the Institute of Economic Research and Public Policy (IERPP), Professor Isaac Boadi, has bemoaned the absence of the NDC’s flagship policy, the 24-hour economy in the recently read budgetary forecasts.
In a panel discussion on Peace 104.3 FM’s morning show, Kokrokoo, hosted by Nana Yaw Kesse on Monday, March 17, 2025, Professor Boadi expressed concern about how the Mahama administration seems to be toying with Ghanaians over a policy that was the NDC’s main campaign message in the run-up to the 2024 elections.
“It is worrying that the 24-hour economy wasn’t part of the budget read by the finance minister. The President, at the SONA, made a categorical statement and promised that his finance minister would give details about the implementation of the 2024-hour economy. The finance minister did not give the expected details of the policy” Prof. Boadi said.
“Contrary to the President’s assurance that the finance minister would talk about the 24-hour economy, Dr. Ato Forson also told us something completely different. He stated that the development of the 24-hour economy policy is yet to be finalized and for that matter, it cannot be implemented now till later when they’re done with it. This, the Cardinal (Nana Yaw Kesse), is deceptive” he added.
The Dean of the Faculty of Accounting and Finance at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, UPSA, also said that the government appears to have paid attention to other sectors of the economy to the detriment of the road sector.
“I have also seen that the road sector is not part of the top five priority areas captured in the budget. There is virtually no budgetary allocation for the road sector. This is not the best.
The office of government machinery has a huge budgetary allocation whilst the road sector has no allocation, and this is a major concern for a country with hundreds of thousands of deplorable roads” he indicated.
He also found it strange why the growth rate for end of year 2025 has been pegged around 4%, a figure lower than the 2024 one. This, he added, ought not to have been the case.
