Development Economist, Dr George Domfeh has said that Ghana’s economy has bounced back stronger from a destabilized economy inherited by President Nana Akufo-Addo.
According to him, all the macroeconomic indicators point that the economy has been stabilized.
Speaking in an interview with Happy FM’s Don Prah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show, he explained: “The economy is in a very good health and we have macroeconomic indicators such as the growth of the economy to show that.
Prior to COVID-19 when Nana Addo took over the economy, the economy was growing around 2 percent. In 2019, it grew by 6.5 percent. That shows that the economy was doing well. What even contributed more to the growth is the crop and livestock production in the rural areas greatly improved. Also, the manufacturing sector that had almost died was revived in such a way that the sector grew by 9.5 percent. The following year 2019 we had it over 5 percent that means that some form energy has been pumped into the industry and that gave Ghanaians the assurance that the stabilization efforts is going well.
He furthered that in 2016, the Government was limited in creating job opportunities in the country as all it could do was to “only create enabling environment for private sectors” to employ people. However, the narrative has changed in the current state.
In his State of the Nation Address on Tuesday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said it expected the economy to grow nearly five percent in 2021 on the back of strong boost in economic activities.
“We expect Gross Domestic Product growth to rebound strongly this year to nearly five per cent, above the IMF’s 2021 January projection of 3.2 percent growth for Sub-Saharan Africa for 2021,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He added that despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, his administration has ensured that the economy of Ghana has grown in leaps and bounds contrary to the situation during the administration of the erstwhile NDC government.
Meanwhile, Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu has expressed disappointment in the President’s state of the nation address.
According to him, several issues including the country’s debt stock, the activities of the LGBTQI community and Daniel Domelevo’s forced retirement were not addressed by President Akufo-Addo as expected.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah
