Claim: Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the 2024 flagbearer of Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), says industrial growth in the country had collapsed due to erratic power supply at the end of 2016.

Verdict: Misleading. Data reviewed by DUBAWA showed that Ghana’s industrial subsector grew by 4.3% in 2016, representing a 3.2% growth rate from 2015. A Ghana Statistical Service report published in April 2020 revealed that the country’s industrial subsector’s growth in 2015 was 1.1%.

Full-Text

The flagbearer of Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, said his government has outperformed previous regimes in virtually all sectors.

Speaking to journalists during a media encounter on Aug. 25, 2024, the former deputy Bank of Ghana Governor said the country’s power challenges between 2012 and 2016 collapsed the industrial subsector.

“Industry growth had collapsed [in 2016] due to dumsor,” he said in response to a question.

Dr Bawumia said the performance of his political rival, John Mahama of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), could not be compared to the achievements of President Nana Akufo-Addo.

“When you juxtapose that record with what we have been able to do in these last eight years, it is really night and day,” Ghana’s Vice-President said.

Please see Dr Bawumia’s comment from minutes 1:30:21 to 1:33:22 of the video posted on Facebook.

DUBAWA decided to probe the claim as part of its campaign against misinformation and disinformation in Ghana.

Verification

DUBAWA’s investigations have revealed that Ghana’s industrial sector did not collapse in 2016, as Dr Bawumia alleged.

A Ghana Statistical Service report published in April 2020 revealed that the country’s industrial sector grew by 4.3% in 2016.

This represented a 3.2% growth rate from the previous year’s figure, as the Rebased 2013-2019 Annual Gross Domestic Product report disclosed.

A screenshot of the rebased data published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)

Before the rebasing of the Ghanaian economy, the Ghana Statistical Service reported in Sept. 2017 that the growth rate of the industrial sub-sector of Ghana’s economy in 2016 was -0.5%.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has defined rebasing as “the process by which constant price aggregates are updated using the prices of a more recent period.”

A screenshot of the revised GSS data published in 2017

However, the Ghana Statistical Service has revealed that the revised 2016 growth rate of Ghana’s industrial sector was 4.3%.

Conclusion

Given the revised data published by the Ghana Statistical Service, Dr Bawumia’s allegation that Ghana’s industrial sector collapsed in 2016 is misleading.

Source: ghana.dubawa.org