The former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, says there are positive signs that Ghana’s economy is progressing.
During the inauguration of the transition team in Accra on Wednesday, December 11, to pave the way for the incoming government, the outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo disclosed that the country’s economy is bouncing back to pre-Covid-19 levels, a development he expressed excitement about.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Terkper said that after reviewing recent reports by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he can confirm that there are positive signals.
“There are positive signals, and even the IMF has stated that there are positive signals,” he told Joy News.
However, he clarified that this news about the economy does not mean all sectors of the country are performing well.
“The growth we are talking about is a headline figure, which is the average growth” he explained.
On his part, President-elect John Mahama disagreed with the outgoing president’s statement that the economy is bouncing back. According to Mr Terkper, Mr Mahama’s disagreement is understandable, as not all sectors of the economy are performing well.
“So the caution President Mahama was pointing to is that the headline may be driven by oil, or it may reflect industries picking up, but if you look at the release [IMF’s report], they say some sectors are suffering,” he said.
The former minister added, “So what he [Mr Mahama] is trying to point out is that, yes, the current president may focus on the headline figure, but that is only one index to boldly state that the economy is back on the path to recovery,” he explained.
He emphasized that, despite the positive signals, the country still faces vulnerabilities in certain areas, especially in the export-import sector and the agriculture sector in this quarter of the year, and probably will expand to the first quarter of the new year.
