The Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam has insisted that current growth figures, and other economic indicators back claims by government that it has turned the corner in relation to the economy.
He, however added that the country is not out of the woods yet as more work has to be done to stabilize the economy.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has come under some criticisms after he told parliament that government has turned the corner when it comes to the economy.
But speaking on Business Edition with host George Wiafe on October 12, 2023, Dr. Adam maintained that all the indicators “as we speak now show that things have improved greatly compared to where the economy was in 2022”.
“Growth rate which the IMF projected to be about 1.5, has actually rebounded, based on the first, second and third quarter”, he argued.
Dr. Adam added that government is committed to sustaining the momentum to help expand the economy.
He stated for example that government will achieve this through the introduction of some new programmes like the Growth and Jobs programme.
He disclosed that the programme will be launched soon, with details captured in the 2024 Budget.
He assured that key stakeholders in the government will not relent but press hard to stabilize the economy.
“We are hopeful that we will end the year with a higher growth rate putting us on a strong path to recovery”, he stressed.
Providing some more evidence to support his claim, Dr. Adam said the recent stability of the cedi attest to efforts made to recover.
He rejected arguments that the growth of the economy did not come with job creation.
“Indeed we are moving from recovery to stability with all the indicators that we have seen”.
The minister of state maintained that over the next two years the economy should be firmly stable.
Inflation rate outlook and government’s projection
Inflation has posted some decline over the past two months to reach 38.1 percent ending September this year.
Dr. Adam is of the view that the downward trend will be sustained due to some programmes they are implementing.
“One of the main reasons why we have seen inflation rate go up in recent times was because of food, therefore with our planting for food programme and other initiatives as well as the harvest season that should help deal with that challenge”, he expressed optimism.
“We are hoping to reach our target to post about 8 percent inflation rate at the end of the IMF programme and we believe that Ghana is on track”.
“We believe that the Bank of Ghana’s policy rate tightening are working and all these measure will help sustain the downward trend”, he said.
Ghana’s first IMF Programme review
Ghana on October 6, 2023 reached a staff level agreement with the IMF on the country’s first programme review. This was after the mission completed its two week visit, which reviewed Ghana’s programme with the Fund and Article IV consultation.
Dr. Adam said all the developments show government’s commitment.
On the financing assurance from bilateral creditors, he maintained that Ghana will secure the Memorandum of Understanding before the IMF Board meets next months.
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