General News of Tuesday, 19 December 2023

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

There’s no stigma in adopting a modified version of the Chinese economic model - Citizen Kofi

Dr Kofi Amoah is a  businessman and an economist Dr Kofi Amoah is a businessman and an economist

The Founder and CEO of Progeny Ventures International, Dr Kofi Amoah, says the time has come for poor countries, especially in Africa, to firmly resolve to adopt a modified version of the Chinese economic model that has brought them so much success in the last three decades.

China, like many countries in Africa, endured a long period of turbulence where underdevelopment and unemployment plagued its youth and economy.

But in the last three to four decades, deliberate decisions, and strong leadership has seen the Asian Tiger turn its fortunes around to become a global market player in the geopolitics of the world.

Touted as the second-largest economy in the world behind the United States of America, the predictions are that it is only a matter of time before China becomes the world’s economic superpower.

The success of China is not in isolation, the Asian Tigers, including Hong Kong, South Korea Singapore, and Taiwan have seen tremendous upsides in their economies fuelled by exports and rapid industrialization, and have achieved high levels of economic growth since the 1960s.

Speaking to GhanaWeb in an interview, Dr Kofi Amoah who is himself an economist and an astute businessman said, the time has come for countries in Africa including Ghana to carefully determine which economic model when modified can turbocharge their economies for real progress.

He said the options are capitalism from the US, or a Centralized Planned Economy from China which can be modified to suit the needs of individual countries.
He stressed, “I have longed maintained and declared publicly that CAPITALISM (USA) is presently the #1 economy in the world; the #2 economy, China, with its CENTRALIZED PLANNED ECONOMY, will soon overtake the US.

Poor countries, especially in Africa, must now carefully determine which system modified appropriately will work and turbocharge their development.
There’s no longer any stigma in talking about adopting the Chinese model, modified.”

Ghana’s economy has been in turmoil for many years now, and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the Russia-Ukraine war according to the government has eroded the modest gains made in 2017.

High unemployment, brain drain, demonstrations, and general despondency have characterized the economy of Ghana for some time now forcing the government to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, the IMF.

KOD