President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given the assurance that the economy will bounce back stronger from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which have been exacerbated by the geo-political tension between Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking on the current economic challenges in an interview on North Star Radio yesterday, the President indicated that when he took office in January 2017, he inherited an economy that was under an IMF programme.
The President said his government was able to exit successfully, in 2019, the programme started by the erstwhile Mahama government, adding “we implemented flagship programmes like the Free SHS policy and 1-District-1-Factory initiatives, and grew the economy at an annual average growth rate of 7% from 2017 to 2020”.
“Just as we were able to go through this COVID-situation, I am confident that we will go through these current difficulties. Let me repeat it that this government, based on the policies that we have implemented, will find a way to bring our economy back to a better place,” he assured.
The President noted that since 2020, government had taken significant and proactive measures to minimise the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have one of the lowest mortality rates of any country in the world, not just in Africa, but also in the world, and one of the lowest infection rates, largely because of the decisiveness with which the government acted to make sure that this pandemic was, as much as possible, prevented from having any really significant impacts on the people,” he said.
GDP growth
The President further recounted that in the last quarter of last year, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth picked up again to over 6%. He said before the war in Europe, “the recovery had begun again, and the confidence in the economy and its management was resurfacing”.
He, however, bemoaned that the Russia-Ukraine invasion had impacted negatively on commodity prices, across the world.
“The freight rates went up astronomically; virtually all these various indices which are so important in the management of the economy went through the ceiling. It is also important for us to recognize that we’re not the only economy in the world that is having these difficulties – virtually all the economies, great and small. Read the data about what’s going on in America or Britain, the European Union and in other African countries, you see that we’re all in the same boat.
“I am not looking for excuses. I’ve never believed in excuses as a way of running a country; you have to play with the cards with which you are dealt. But the cards that have been dealt with, in this our second term, are these exogenous factors, external factors, that have had such a big impact on us, and we are determined to work our way through it,” he explained.
Confident of rebound
That notwithstanding, the President reaffirmed government’s commitment to working its way through it, saying “we did it when I first came into office, and I’m strongly of the belief that we can do it again because the policies are sound”.
“We are about putting Ghana in a sound place. For the time being, there will be a lot of up and down, people talking, yes the difficulties are there. I’m the last to want to minimise the difficulties, they are there, they are affecting the lives of ordinary people in a very negative way,” he said.
To this end, he appealed to the entire citizenry to repose trust and confidence in his government as it leads the country to overcome the situation
“…Government that took our economy from one of the lowest growth rates in our modern history, when I came into office in 2017, and brought it up to one of the fastest growing economies in the world. It was this government which did that, and this government was able to steer Ghana through the COVID pandemic,” the President added.
About The Author
