Ghana: Post- election business outlook [Business Africa]

Uptick in liquidity in an election year, while traders decry low sales. What’s the cost on the economy post- Ghana’s 2020 elections? Our Ghanaian correspondent Peter Quao Adattor tells about the optimism of Ghana's finance minister, Ken Ofori Atta.

Meanwhile, Founding President of Accra-based Imani Center for Policy and Education speaks to our Ignatius Annor on why the global pandemic cannot explain away the mounting debts incurred by managers of the economy.

Franklin Cudjoe said ''It has to be explained away by government’s unnecessary spending, which means that they are attracting debt as well as a result of that. So clearly speaking, the debt situation is going to grow. I'm sure if the government had its way, it would still borrow more. Already it is borrowing a lot. It’s borrowed close to one hundred and fifty billion Ghana cedis (26 billion dollars) in three years. That's a lot of money. And the only reason why we can sustain our debt is when we start doing things sensibly. So it behooves on us to rein in expenditure. As I said, eight percent out of the nearly 15, 16 percent fiscal deficit is caused by unnecessary expenditure, and that cannot be salvaged by any debt sustainability plan. Because there’s no debt sustainability plan.''

A massive boost in revenue for operators of Point of sale devices in Nigeria. We visit Africa's most populous nation, where our correspondent, Michael Dibie reports about why some stakeholders are unhappy.

And Uganda inches closer to begin oil pipeline construction, as it validates an environmental-impact assessment.