President John Dramani Mahama has defended his government\u2019s management of the Ghanaian economy, claiming the nation\u2019s economy has become very resilient under his presidency.<\/p>\n
The President made the comments in an interview with Takoradi-based Twin-City Radio in the Western Region on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The comments come at a time of increasing opposition attacks on the President\u2019s economic management record and snowballing concerns that Ghana\u2019s increasing national debt could sink the economy.<\/p>\n
But, President Mahama said Ghana\u2019s economy is still very much robust.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what is happening in the world, there is a financial crisis going on in the world and I have lived in this country all my life. In most cases where we see a collapse of commodity prices of two of our principal exports, the economy has always gone into a close spin. As I speak, we are having a collapse of two of our major exports; gold is down, oils is down and so the single major export still sustaining the economy is cocoa. But even cocoa has even come down a bit, yet the economy is not experiencing the kind of shocks we use to experience in the past.”<\/p>\n
The President\u00a0said this shows that \u201cthere\u2019s something happening in the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently, Fitch has come out with their report, they downgraded South Africa, Brazil and so many other countries, and yet Ghana maintained its rating with Fitch. It should tell you that there is something happening with the economy, the economy is becoming more resilient than it was in the past; and what we\u2019ve done is to lay the basis for more investments by building on the social and economic infrastructure. And in my next term of office, our focus will be on the livelihoods of Ghanaians, improving on Ghanaian incomes,\u201d the President Mahama noted.<\/p>\n
He also responded to questions on growing criticisms that the recent introduction\u00a0of new taxes and levies has made Ghana an expensive business destination.<\/p>\n
\u201cGhana is an attractive place to do business and often we must use measurable instruments to make our points. People say Ghana has become a high cost of doing business and investments are falling. There is no truth to it, if you go to GIPC; Ghana is one of the few countries that have seen increased investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Mahama argued that \u201cSo if Ghana was an expensive place to do business, why would people still be coming to invest their monies?\u00a0So it\u2019s not borne out by the fact. \u00a0\u00a0I hear a lot of opposition propaganda that says that companies are packing out and leaving Ghana and going to Cote D\u2019Ivoire and several times I\u2019ve asked, give me one single company that has packed and left and nobody is able to? Which companies? But its good political propaganda so people just re-echo it, there is no company packing and leaving,\u201d the President insisted.<\/p>\n
He also explained that Ghana and Cote D\u2019Ivoire were commended at the CEO Executive forum in Abidjan for\u00a0the management of their respective countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cGhana and Cote D\u2019Ivoire are being commended as the two countries in West Africa that seem to have the potential to move this sub-region forward. Let\u2019s not forget that Ghana\u2019s economy is bigger \u00a0than Cote D\u2019Ivoire. Ghana\u2019s economy is the second largest economy in West Africa, after Nigeria, a lot of Ghanaians don’t know this. \u00a0Cote D\u2019Ivoire is third, it comes after us. So we are certainly doing something that is good, even though they are producing more cocoa than us, we have an economy that is larger than Cote D\u2019Ivoire\u2019s,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
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By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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