Business News of Friday, 20 October 2023

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

A sign of policy failure - IEA on government's single-digit inflation target by 2028

Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr. John Kwakye Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr. John Kwakye

Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr. John Kwakye, has described government's intention to achieve single-digit inflation in 5 years as a clear sign of policy failure.

He wondered why the Akufo-Addo led government cannot achieve this single-digit inflation before President Akufo-Addo's tenure comes to an end in 2024.

Dr Kwakye said taking concrete steps to reduce deficit financing and ensuring low food prices and stable fuel prices should allow single-digit inflation to be achieved by the end of 2024.

In a tweet sighted by GhanaWeb Business, he asserted that, “This is certainly not ambitious enough. It’s like putting the economy on autopilot...Where is policy in all this? Why don’t the government restore single-digit inflation during its tenure but push it on to future government.”

“A 5-year period to reach single-digit inflation is a sign of policy failure. Taking concrete steps to reduce deficit financing and ensure low food prices and stable fuel prices should allow single-digit inflation to be achieved by the end of 2024,” part of Dr John Kwakye's tweet read.

The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs's comment comes after the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, in an interview with Citi News said government is targeting a single-digit inflation by 2028.

Meanwhile, Ghana's inflation rate for September dropped to 38.1%.

This was announced by Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim at the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

The downward trend is according to the decrease in the prices of food and non-food items, Prof Annim said at a press conference in Accra.

SA/MA

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