Economist rejects Finance Minister’s claims of Ghana’s economy recovery

Prof. Abdul-Aziz Iddrisu, a Senior Lecturer in Banking and Finance at the Banking Technology and Finance, Department of Kumasi Technical University has rejected claims by Finance Minister,  Ken Ofori-Atta that the Ghanaian economy is recovering.

Arguing why the Finance Minister goofed in his submission during the mid-year budget review, he observed that Ghana grew by 3.1% in 2022 hence if Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta claims that the economy is stable and better than it was 7 months ago, then Ghana should not be growing by 1.5%.

The Minister of Finance had claimed that the Ghanaian economy is gradually bouncing back as a result of measures put in place by the government.

But reacting to this, Prof. Abdul-Aziz Iddrisu said “Importantly, the world is expected to grow by 3% in 2023; Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow at 3.5% in 2023; and West Africa is expected to grow by 3.9% in 2023”.

“One of the major headwinds which is covid-19 is no longer a pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. It is not Ghana alone, which is affected by the headwinds. How would a country which is now better than 7 months ago be expected to grow by less than half of its own growth rate last year?” Prof. Abdul-Aziz Iddrisu told MyNewsGH.com.

Prof. Abdul-Aziz Iddrisu further noted that the Finance Minister in his Mid-Year Budget Review Report chose figures from the IMF report to suit his argument on the floor of Parliament.

“The Finance Minister decided to use the April 2023 update by IMF when the July update was available a week before he read his statement. He said the world economy is expected to grow by 2.8 % in 2023 which is significantly less than the 3.4% in the previous year. But then this figure was given by IMF in April 2023. Meanwhile, the July update by the same IMF has adjusted the figure from 2.8% to 3% and this information was available a week before he read his statement”, he stressed.