Prime News Ghana

My gov't has succeeded in turning Ghana's economy around - Akufo-Addo

By Mutala Yakubu
President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo
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President Akufo-Addo says his government has succeeded in turning around the fortunes of Ghana's economy.

The President who was speaking on Monday, November 11, 2019, as part of a panel including President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, at the African Investment Forum’s “Invest in Africa’s Space” event, currently ongoing in Johannesburg, South Africa says his government inherited an economy, not in the best of shapes but have been able to make things right.

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“We inherited a situation with a large fiscal deficit, which has been turned around now; considerable imbalances in the way in which our economy was being run have also been turned around; a 15.4% inflation is today at 7.6%, the lowest in two decades. These are the building blocks for us.”

The consequences of this turnaround, he explained, have been that, “in these three years, we have had one of the fastest growing economies not just on the continent, but also in the world, with this year being a 7.6% growth. It has been consistent over these last three years.”

Reiterating his determination to maintain fiscal discipline, in the management of Ghana’s public finances, President Akufo-Addo stated that “this has been our major objective, and so far so good we are realizing this.”

President Akufo-Addo also told the Forum made up of investors from across the world that “we are resisting the temptation, in an election year, to turn on the tap, hoping that the work we have done will take us through, without having to do that.”

He also said his Government is paying a lot of attention to the development of the country’s roads, railways, and airport infrastructure.

“In fact, last year, an important initiative launched, which is bearing fruit, is the Accra SkyTrain project in which South African investors are taking a very keen interest. We are hoping that we would be able to advance that concept this year,” he said.

The President added that the transformation of Ghanaian agriculture is one his government has been focused on since assuming office in January 2017, resulting in the institution of the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, which has seen a revival of Ghanaian agriculture.

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“Planting for Food and Jobs has proven to be a spectacular success. First of all, in the way it is addressing the availability of foodstuffs. We are now in the position, for the first time in over a decade, of exporting foodstuffs to our neighbors. We are very keen on developing private sector interest because Ghanaian agriculture is largely smallholder,” he added.