The Chief Executive Officer of Policy Initiative for Economic Development (PIED) Africa, Dr. Daniel Amateye Anim, has refuted claims by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that they inherited a hadicaped economy, noting that the economy the NDC inherited is on a recovery path showing positive growth.
Dr. Anim acknowledged that, indeed, the country’s economy was severely impacted by the global crisis, but the then government, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), managed to drive the economy to achieve macro-stability.
Speaking to GBC on Wednesday, March 5, Dr. Anim said from December 2022, Ghana recorded an inflation rate of 54.1% but moved to 23%, showing a stronger recovery.
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Dr. Anim emphasized that the economy was not badly managed by the NPP as stipulated. He said even though the country recorded a high public debt stock in the same period, there was an attempt by the government to service it through resorting to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP).
He said from a logical perspective, if the economy is that “broken,” as it is being described, then it will take President Mahama not less than three years to be able to get money to start rolling his program.
“If the economy is that broke, because you cannot go to the capital market to borrow because of our status as a nation, then how are you going to roll out initiatives if the economy is broke?” he asked.
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Dr. Anim agrees there are challenges in the domestic economy but insists that Ghana’s economy is recovering. He explained that the economy’s microeconomic indicators are showing a fairly stable signal that any government that takes over with prudent and deligent policies should be able to consolidate the stability and start propelling growth trajectory for the country.
“So I don’t see it as an economy that is in crisis. I see that as an economy that is recovering, growing around 6.4%, even far above the projected 3.4% that the World Bank and other institutions predicted.”