Economy being revived despite setbacks – President

Accra, Oct. 8, GNA – President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo Monday said Ghana’s economy was on the path of recovery and
growth, in spite of the difficult economic circumstances inherited from the
past administration.

He said the economic policies being promoted
by his government was fixing the fundamentals of the economy, which would
enable the country to realise the vision of becoming an industrialised nation.

President Akufo-Addo made the disclosure in an
address at the ongoing 5th Financial Times Africa Summit, in London, United
Kingdom.

He said with some degree of success, his
government had “stabilised our currency despite the recent challenges of a
stronger dollar, and has reduced significantly inflation from 15.4% we
inherited in 2016 to 9.9% today, and, moderately, the cost of borrowing.”

Additionally, a number of tax cuts have
brought relief to businesses, and, at the same time, reduced substantially the
country’s fiscal deficit, from 9.3% in 2016 to 5.9% in 2017, with a projected
4.5% deficit this year.

“Indeed, the Ghanaian economy, whose growth
rate stood at 3.6%, in 2016, the lowest in two decades, grew by 8.5% in 2017,
and is expected to grow, in 2018, by 8.3%, which, according to the
International Monetary Fund, would make it one of the fastest growing economies
in the world this year,” he said.

The President further indicated that the
relative success of the implementation of business-friendly policies, coupled
with the availability of affordable and reliable power, had ensured industry,
whose growth rate stood at negative 0.5% in 2016, grew by 17.7% in 2017, the
highest sectoral growth in the economy.

He made known that a number of deliberate
interventions to reduce the cost of doing business, reduce the stress
associated with setting up businesses, and formalizing the economy had been put
in place.

“The e-business registration system, the
paperless port clearance system, the digital property addressing system, the
mobile interoperability platform, and the issuance of the national
identification card, will all help quicken the pace of change to bring us into
the technology-driven era, and make our businesses competitive, so that we can
attract the requisite investment, foreign and domestic, to spur on our
country’s economic transformation,” he said. 

President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that
the modest successes chalked in reviving the Ghanaian economy and creating a
business-friendly environment, had received major boosts with the announcement
made by two global car giants, Volkswagen of Germany and Sinotruk of China, of
their decision to establish assembly plants in Ghana, with the intention, in
the medium term, of producing their vehicles in the country.

“Tech giant, Google, has also decided to base
its African Artificial Intelligence Centre in Ghana, which will make it the
first in Africa. US global energy giant, ExxonMobil, and the big Norwegian oil
and gas company, Aker Energy, have both signed agreements with the Ghana
National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to undertake deep-water oil and gas
exploration and production,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo welcomed the “rapid
enhancement of foreign direct investment in our economy”, saying the
concomitant transfer of technology would enable Ghana to realise its vision of
a Ghana Beyond Aid.

GNA

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