The Dean of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) Business School, Professor John Gatsi, has said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s assertion that Ghana’s economy is rebounding is not factual.
Prof Gatsi said the President’s claim is just to appease Ghanaians.
“He is giving a Christmas message, so he is only talking to just assure people. So, what he is saying is not the reality,” the Finance lecturer said.
The President, in his Christmas address to the nation had said Ghana’s relatively stable exchange rate with a drop in inflation is an indication that the economy was bouncing back.
“Fellow Ghanaians, I am particulary glad that our nation has turned the corner following three difficult years, we and indeed, the world have faced. Inflation is being reigned in, we are experiencing a relatively stable exchange rate, and growth in our economy is rebounding.
“We continue to attract investments, domestic and foreign, reinforcing our position as the gateway to Africa and we remain a beacon of democracy, peace and stability in Africa. The country is not yet completey out of the woods, but there is a growing confidence that with hard work and determination, Ghana will make it and collectively, we will secure our future,” he said in his statement.
President Akufo-Addo continued that, “I remain committed to the mandate you freely gave me. I will use the last year of my stay in office, to do all in my power to continue to help create a free and prosperous nation of opportunities where every Ghanaian child, no matter the circumstances of his or her birth, has a fair chance to strive for a happy and dignified life and realise his or her aspirations.”
But reacting to the issue on TV3’s Ghana Tonight show on December 25, the Professor of Finance and Economics said the President made that assertion because he needed to provide some assurance to the citizens as a Christmas message.
Prof Gatsi said, it takes more than the indices he listed to restore an economy that has been messed up like that of Ghana.
Prof. Gatsi cited the hardship confronting Ghanaians which has doubled and asked that the managers of the economy work towards rectifying that rather than dwelling on a decline in inflation and a relatively stable exchange rate to suggest that things are getting better.
“When we say an economy has been messed up, and to correct that economy, it doesn’t take inflation reducing from 54% to 26% to indicate that things are better. When policy rate has increased from 14% to 30%. You don’t just look at headline inflation falling to 26% to think that you have solved the problem of the country when hardship, unemployment and poverty have doubled.
“You do not just say that because exchange rate has stabilised at the highest level from about GHC6.00 last year to about GHC12.00. So if it’s stable around GHC12, you don’t use that to tell Ghanaians that things are better for them and things would be better in 2026. So the reality is different from what the President is talking about,” he told Martin Asiedu Dartey on the show.
By Felix Anim-Appau