President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has owned up to reality about the economy of Ghana.
He admitted on Sunday, October 30, when he addressed the nation in an impassioned broadcast, that the economy “is in great difficulty”.
He says he will not exaggerate when he says Ghana’s economy is in crisis.
“The budget drawn for the 2022 fiscal year has been thrown out of gear, disrupting our balance of payments and debt sustainability, and further exposing the structural weaknesses of our economy,” he observed.
For him, so many regressive factors have concurrently occurred, taking a toll on the economy in an unprecedented manner and that has resulted in the crisis.
“I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time.”
But he assured Ghanaians that the situation will be turned around just like it happened in the immediate post-Covid era.
“As we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems, but the long-term structural problems that have bedeviled our economy.”
Ghana’s economy has seen a meltdown in recent times with the factors largely attributed to the global crunch.
Inflation in the country has risen to 37.2 percent, shooting high the prices of foods and other products.
Traders have complained about the current cost of doing business, forcing them to recently shut their shops in Accra and Kumasi – the country’s foremost cities.
The domestic currency, Cedi, has depreciated in leaps and bounds against its major trading currency, the US Dollar.
The economic crisis has seen the government approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.
President Akufo-Addo assures that the bailout being sought from the Fund is “to repair, in the short term, our public finances, and restore our balance of payments, whilst we continue to work on the medium to long-term structural changes that are at the heart of our goal of constructing a resilient, robust Ghanaian economy, and building a Ghana Beyond Aid”.
He added that his is a government that cares and that “we are determined to restore stability to the economy and provide relief”.