|
Nobel Economist Stiglitz criticises
EPA
Accra, July 8, Ghanadot/GNA – Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a
Nobel Laureate in Economics, on Tuesday urged the government
to “take a cold hard look” at the Economic Partnership
Agreement (EPA) and negotiate its inimical aspects away,
saying that the deal was not free but an extremely managed
trade agreement.
He noted that “partnership” as used in the EPA suggested
that it was an agreement between equals, but the truth was
that the less developed countries (LDCs) and the European
Union (EU) could not be equal partners.
Prof. Stiglitz made the call when he paid a courtesy call on
the Minister of Finance, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, as part of
his two-day visit to Ghana under the auspices of the Africa
Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET).
He urged the government to listen to the critical issues
raised by civil society organization about the EPA and
ensure that the country entered into an agreement that would
favour local businesses and the country’s economic
development as a whole.
“EPA does not give sufficient opportunities for businesses
in LDCs to develop to levels where they can compete
favourably with their counterparts in the EU and that is
critical to the development of a country like Ghana,” he
said.
Prof. Stiglitz noted that even though the EPA was inimical
to Ghana’s development, it was no where near as bad as the
bilateral trade agreements between the United States of
America and developing countries like Ghana.
He therefore urged African governments to also re-examine
the bilateral trade agreements between them and the USA and
re-negotiate the inimical aspects away.
Prof. Stiglitz noted that the oil discovery in Ghana could
only be a blessing when properly managed, adding that
experience in other jurisdictions showed that oil did not
necessarily bring riches to the people.
“It is a paradox but we see all around us that oil
discovery, especially in Africa, has led to what we now call
a resource curse instead of a blessing, due to poor
management.”
He said it was his hope that his input into the African
economy through ACET, whose Governing Council he chaired,
would help countries like Ghana to properly manage their oil
resource and take advantage to the soaring world oil prices
to develop.
Prof. Stilglitz commended Ghana for maintaining appreciable
economic growth levels in the face of soaring world oil and
food prices and called for greater investment into
agriculture to ensure higher food productivity to complement
to newly discovered oil.
He said the world was gradually moving towards the use of
bio-fuel, but pointed out that developed countries needed to
be stopped from taking undue advantage of the need for
bio-fuel to continue emitting more carbon into the
atmosphere.
“America must be stopped from giving subsidies to its
companies to produce more bio-fuel at the expense of food
production and the global environment.”
Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, noted that being an election year for
Ghana, a lot of questions were being asked about the way
forward for the country’s development.
He expressed the hope that Prof. Stiglitz’s interaction with
the various publics would provide some insights as to how
the country could be transformed.
He said Ghana’s major challenge had been energy and now how
to manage the newly found oil, adding that the country had
taken steps to find solutions in both areas but Prof.
Stiglitz’s input was welcome.
Mr. Baah-Wiredu gave assurance that in spite of oil
discovery the government would continue to develop other
sectors of the economy to avoid the resource curse
experienced in other jurisdictions.
Prof. Stiglitz will hold separate meetings with the
Association of Ghana Industries and also give a public
lecture on Tuesday.
GNA
|
