“We Are Building A Resilient Economy In Ghana” – President Akufo-Addo
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo, says the work being undertaken by his government, over the
course of his first year in office, is leading to the building of a
resilient and robust economy, which will take Ghana to a situation
beyond aid.
According to President Akufo-Addo, he won the
elections of 2016 because the Ghanaian people were dissatisfied with
their living conditions and the direction in which Ghana’s economy, and,
indeed, the country was headed.
His government’s programme of economic
transformation, therefore, is hinged on restructuring the institutions
of governance, modernising the country’s agriculture to enhance its
productivity, a clear industrial policy, and rationalising the financial
sector so that it supports growth in agriculture, and growth in
manufacturing and industry.
“To this end, and over the past 13 months, the period
of stay of my government in office, we have begun to work on the
fundamentals of the economy, because we believe that an improved
macro-economy is a basic requirement for stimulating the investments we
need for the rapid expansion and growth of the Ghanaian economy, and the
generation of wealth and jobs,” he said.
This, he said, has led to the growing strength of the
economy, from a growth rate of 3.6% in 2016 to 7.9% in 2017; the
stabilisation of our currency, the cedi; reduction in inflation from
15.6% at the end of 2016 to its current level of 10.3%; a revival of
Ghanaian industry, from a growth rate of -0.5% in 2016 to 17.7% in 2017;
reduction in interest rates, and the fiscal deficit from 9.3% to 5.6%
of GDP; and the abolition of nuisance taxes, with the aim of shifting
the focus of the Ghanaian economy from an emphasis on taxation to an
emphasis on production.
“We are also putting in place strong measures to
increase revenue mobilisation, by plugging leaks and reforming the
existing tax exemption regime,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo made this known when he
delivered the keynote address at the National Governors Association 2018
Winter Meeting, in Washington DC, United States of America, on Sunday,
25th February, 2018.
Addressing the gathering, he stated that the process
of economic and industrial transformation in Ghana is going along with
ensuring that the most basic elements of social justice are met.
“We have begun to make quality basic education, i.e.
education from kindergarten through to secondary school, accessible to
all of Ghana’s children. Through my government’s policy of free
secondary education in our public schools launched in September 2017, at
the beginning of this academic year, 90,000 more children gained access
to senior high school in 2017, than they did the year before,” he said.
Equally, accessible healthcare to all of Ghana’s
citizens, through an efficient and financially self-sustaining National
Health Insurance Scheme, he stressed, is a crucial goal of my
government.
“We do all this to promote a culture of incentives
and opportunity, to unleash the considerable ingenuity, creativity and
entrepreneurial talents of our people, especially of our youth,” he
said.
This, he was confident, is the surest path to national prosperity, bolstered by an enhancement of public accountability.
“Last Friday, before my departure for this visit, I
appointed the first Special Prosecutor in our history, a known,
respected anti-corruption crusader, whose task will be to deal,
exclusively, with issues of corruption, and hold public officials, past
and present, accountable for their stewardship of our nation’s public
finances,” President Akufo-Addo added.
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