President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated his government’s commitment to turn around the economy despite inheriting a distressed one.

Speaking in the presence of ex-president John Mahama in Parliament Thursday, the president said he was handed an economy “choked by debts” and with “micro-economic fundamentals in disarray.”

The comment quickly elicited a wry smile from the ex-president and discordant noises from the Minority lawmakers.

Mr Mahama was in the company of former presidents Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor and former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings who had all come to listen to the address.

President Akufo-Addo has not shied away from stating what he has described as the ‘true state’ of the economy supervised by his predecessor.

“We inherited an economy that was in distressed, choked by debts and microeconomic fundamentals in disarray,” the president said to the disagreement of the Minority.

He said despite the challenges, his government rose to the occasion and put in place prudent economic measures that are yielding fruits.

President Akufo-Addo said the country’s fiscal deficit has reduced from 9.2 percent in 2016 to an estimated 5 percent.

The public debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio has also seen a decline, he said, adding his government has halved the debts left behind by the past regime.

With Ghana projected to be the fastest growing economy in the world, the president said his government is committed to ending the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme started in 2015.

“We are determined to put in place measures to ensure the irreversibility of the programme so that we will have no reason to seek the assistance of the [international community],” president Akufo-Addo said.