No economy can run beyond four years without a crisis – Seth Terkper

Ghana must anticipate recurring economic shocks and build resilience to manage them effectively, former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has said.

Speaking on Joy News, he indicated that economic disruptions are a normal feature of both domestic and global systems, and should be expected within short intervals.

“I’ve always said, in so many interviews, that you cannot run an economy for two to three years, the longest, four, without one crisis or another. It may be domestic, it may be external,” he said.

His comments come at a time of heightened concern over global developments, particularly tensions in the Middle East, which could lead to rising crude oil prices and impact fuel costs, inflation, and the Ghanaian cedi.

Mr Terkper explained that economists anticipate such cycles and have developed policy tools to manage them.

“Economists have something called counter-cyclical policies. It means that you know that the economy rises and falls — it’s good and bad,” he added.

He warned that external shocks, especially those linked to imports, could have serious consequences if the country is not adequately prepared.

“If you don’t have sufficient food, and you import with the reserves, it affects the currency. If it’s not something you can predict for later, it’s something you should know could happen,” he said.

According to him, these challenges are not new and should be incorporated into long-term economic planning and policy decisions.

Mr Terkper stressed that commodity prices remain beyond Ghana’s control, making it necessary for policymakers to plan around such uncertainties.

“Unless you prepare against them, events happen, and things go in circles. Commodity prices — we don’t control them. They go up, and they go down. This will appear,” he said.

He maintained that understanding these cycles and preparing for them is critical to maintaining economic stability and protecting the local currency from external pressures.