The government was able to sustain all public sector workers in employment despite the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Akufo-Addo has disclosed.
According to the President, although most businesses in Ghana were affected by the pandemic leading to loss of jobs, no public sector worker lost their job during the period.
Delivering his State of the Nation Address, SoNA in Parliament on Tuesday, 9 March 2021, President Akufo-Addo said: “According to the COVID-19 Business Tracker survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank, the covid-19 pandemic has led to job losses with many Ghanaian businesses and firms being forced to cut cost by reducing staff hours, cutting wages and in some cases, laying off workers...â€
“This survey again showed that about 770,000 workers had their wages reduced and about 42,000 employees were laid off during the 3-week partial lockdown imposed on the Greater Accra and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan areas and their continuous districts Tema and Kasoa.
“Government, however, succeeded in protecting the jobs and income of all public sector employees,†President Akufo-Addo stated.
He added that: “Indeed the cost of COVID-19 has been enormous. Our overall economic growth rate for 2020 was reviewed downwards from 6.8 percent to 0.9 percent, the non-oil economy was also revised from 6.7 percent to 1.6percent.â€