President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) governmnet has been able to stabilise the Ghanaian Economy despite inheriting it in a poor state from the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
According to him, the NPP-Government thought it knew that it will face a difficult situation, but when it took a good look, it was taken aback by the state of the economy it inherited.
Delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on his first term of office in accordance with the 1992 Constitution, President Akufo-Addo described the economy he inherited as an economy with severe microeconomic instability, weak growth, a troubling financial sector, low investor confidence and significant structural bottlenecks.
“The basic facts of our unhappy inheritance are well-documented -15.4% rate of inflation; a 9.3% fiscal deficit; 32% rate of interest; a 3.4% rate of GDP growth, the lowest in two decades- all under an IMF-sponsored bailout programme. We set to work quickly, and, I am glad to say that, we have been able to stabilize the economy, exit satisfactorily the IMF programme, and restore confidence in the economy,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo again said at the end of 2019, the economy was Characterised by strong growth in response to implementation of government flagship programmes, single digit inflation, reduced fiscal deficits with three consecutive years of primary surpluses, relatively stable exchange rate, significant improvement in the current account with three consecutive years of trade surpluses, strong foreign exchange reserve buffers, and markedly reduced lending rates.
However, he said the global pandemic of COVID-19 threatened to derail the progress chalked over the first three (3) years of his administration.
“Its impact has led to the revision in GDP growth for 2020, from 6.8% to 0.9%, and later to 1.9% to reflect significant slowdown in economic activities as a consequence of the effects of COVID-19 on lives and livelihoods,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the proactive decisions taken by government to fight the pandemic, as well as revitalise and transform the economy with the one hundred-billion-cedi Ghana CARES ‘Obaatampa’ Programme, anchors bright prospects for the medium-term.
President Akufo-Addo said Government will continue to implement prudent fiscal measures to quicken the pace of fiscal consolidation, adding that in March this year, the Minister for Finance will provide further details on the measures to be taken to restore Ghana back to the path of economic recovery.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com