General News of Tuesday, 10 July 2018

Source: dailyguideafrica.com

Economic figures don’t lie – Nana jabs critics

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo says the current economic indicators point to the fact that the country’s economy is on the right track and will soon blossom to enhance the lives of the citizens.

He stated that the country registered 3.6% GDP growth in 2016, which was the lowest in the country for two decades, but the NPP administration increased it to 8.5% in 2017, stressing that the figures are real.

“Those that have been saying that the figures are meaningless are wrong, because in reality, the figures show that the economy is on the way to massive transformation for the people to benefit,” the president stated.

President Akufo-Addo made the disclosure during this year’s annual New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Delegates Conference in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital, where new national party executives were elected to manage the party.

He said the NPP’s economic management team, led by the Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, has put in place pragmatic programmes and policies which have helped to bring hope and confidence to the once weak economy.

President Akufo-Addo stated that the previous Mahama-led the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration created gaping holes in the country’s economy due to their bad policies and programmes.

He said the NPP administration, after assuming the mantle of leadership in January 2017, realized that the country’s economy was in tatters after eight years of bad management by the NDC administration.



According to him, within just 18 months the NPP’s economic management team has done a yeoman’s job to improve the ailing economy, adding that Ghana has been hailed and praised by recognized international bodies such as the IMF.

“The IMF says Ghana has the fastest growing economy in the world,” the president said proudly.

“If the figures being given by the country’s economic management team are fake, the IMF wouldn’t have said so.”

President Akufo-Addo also announced that his administration inherited an economy with 15.4% inflation, and his government’s economic management team had also worked tirelessly to reduce it to single digit.

According to him, Ghana’s fiscal deficit stood at 9.3% and his administration, which is made up of astute economists such as Dr. Bawumia, Alan Kyerematen and Yaw Osafo Maafo, among others, has worked to reduce it to a little over 6%.



President Akufo-Addo stated that the Ghana cedi had been stabilized for some time now despite criticisms from opponents of the NPP administration, adding that government is focused on making the economy better.

He said the present economic indicators have not been cooked by the NPP government to win cheap and underserved political glory as the critics of the government have been speculating.



Continuing, President Akufo-Addo noted that his administration had also fulfilled most of its 2016 campaign promises to shame the known critics.

The programnme was attended by Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, top government officials, MMDCEs, NPP national executives and delegates from the 10 regions of the country.