“We in the NDC stand prepared to aid in the salvage effort because inaction is not an option in the face of disaster because the clock is ticking very fast and the time to act is now in order to salvage the deteriorating economy,” he noted.

According to the former President, there was no dispute that the economy was in deep crisis, marked by huge budget deficits, unsustainable public debt, rising inflation, rapidly depreciating currency, ever rising cost of living and loss of confidence by both domestic and international investor communities.

In a statement issued by former President Mahama, he bemoaned that the effects of the deteriorating economy had been severe hardships and suffering of the citizenry especially those within vulnerable groups.

As a result of the horrendous low point, it said the country had now reached the point where an urgent intervention was required to avert a total collapse of the economy and the government, instead of finding solutions to the country’s economic crisis had resorted to imposing taxes on electronic transactions as a remedy to the situation.

The statement said the president and his head of the Economic Management Team, rather appallingly, remained nonchalant in the face of the serious crisis and had limited their response to the imposition of harsh and regressive tax measures, one of which was the Electronic Transaction Levy (e-levy), which had been roundly rejected by Ghanaians.

 “Like one drowning and yet clutching at mere straw to stay afloat, the government has banked all its hopes on the e-levy, which, given the gravity and depth of the problems and challenges that has beset our economy, is neither adequate nor viable as a sustainable response to the crisis,” it said.