Question

Question 1 The novel corona virus disease (also known as COVID – 19) which started in WUHAN in December 2019 has grounded the global economy to a halt. World crude prices reached their lowest and trade among nations have generally slowed. Production has slowed and jobs are being lost across the globe. Globally, over seven million people have contracted the virus and over four hundred thousand have died. Ghana announced its first two confirmed cases of COVID – 19 on 12 March, 2020 and as at June 14, 2020, the number of confirmed cases stood at 11,964 with 54 deaths. The impact of the COVID – 19 pandemic on Ghanaian economy and the global economy at large is predicted to be very severe. The government of Ghana, like many other governments, is spending more funds on containing the pandemic and limiting the effect of the pandemic on the economy. The IMF Executive Board approved the disbursement of US$1 billion drawn under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) for Ghana on April 13, 2020 after receiving application from the country’s government. Given this background, briefly discuss the repercussions of the corona virus pandemic for the Ghanaian economy and foreign exchange market. Suggest ways of mitigating the effects of covid – 19 on Ghana’s balance of payments (BOP).

Answer 1

The immediate effect of COVID-19 has been a disruption of supply chains and a huge reduction in the people travelling.

Many business plans have set down due to the outbreak of covid. It leads to the disruption of manufacturing of production in various strategyas well as sales.Due to the shut down of companies, the employers/employees has to sit down at home leading to jobless situation.There has been shortage in purchasing equipments/raw materials etc due to closing of shops. Many of the business plans has come down due to the change in profit margin etc.

Similarly, people had to sit home without being out, either due to the restrictions from the authorities,which again leads to huge loss in the revenuw of travel,leisure and hospitality industries.

Suggestions to recover the business plan:

The companies should take steps to review the business plans inorder to maintain the healthy business mind. As the situation prevails every where in the world it leads to the unhealthy workforce.