President Akufo-Addo says the economy his government inherited three years ago could never have paid for the expenditure being made to cushion Ghanaians during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said if the Ghanaian economy had not been strengthened when he took over, it would have been impossible for government to provide free electricity, free water, free meals, insurance package for frontline health workers, and stimulus package for small and medium businesses at this time.
“All of these measures are indication of the strength of the Ghanaian economy before the pandemic and this is the strength that has been built up in a very short period of time since we came to office. The economy we inherited could never have paid for these things.
“The money was just simply not there, we have built a strong economy and we want to keep the strong economy going,” Akufo-Addo said.
Responding to critics that the 2020 mid-year budget focuses on expenditure rather than financing the country’s deficit, President Akufo-Addo indicated that, issues of deficit have been put aside all over the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
President Akufo-Addo made the disclosure in an interview on Sunrise FM in Koforidua during a working visit to the Eastern Region.
He said if we continue to insist on deficit, it would be difficult to deal with the pandemic.
According to him, the most critical issue is how to generate the resources that will allow you to revive and strengthen the economy after the crisis.
“It’s being done because the pandemic has brought a great deal of difficulty to the people of Ghana and the first responsibility of government is to protect the people especially in time of difficulty. A government that is not able to do that in my view is not a government worth it name.
“A government that is properly so called is the one when things become difficult for his people, he steps in because of good policy and efficient management to be able to protect the people and that is what we have done,” the President said.
He added that if the Ghanaian economy had not been strengthened in the last three years, Ghana could not have survived the Covid-19 pandemic.
He mentioned that, the New Patriotic Party’s footprint in Ghana is now very clear and firm and he believes the NPP has a good chance of repeating the victory of 2016 due to the government’s achievement across all aspects of life.