Mahama: Ghana’s economy strong and sturdy

President John Mahama says Ghana’s economy couldn’t be stronger and sturdier.

At a lecture at the Columbia University in the United States, President Mahama said: “A few years ago, Ghana, my country, was among one of the most economically challenged on the continent. In the last couple of years, Ghana has posted some of the highest GDP growth rates in the world, and remains one of the world’s fifteen fastest growing economies”.

He said Ghana’s economic growth is well situated within a holistic Continental economic growth in the past few years.

“Today, Africa is home to three of the world’s overall best performing stock exchanges, and Ghana’s stock exchange received the highest rating from Databank Financial Services as the best performing stock market in terms of returns on investment,” Mr. Mahama noted.

“In a recent report, the World Bank noted that economic growth in Africa for the first decade of the 21st century has averaged 4.7 percent, as against 2.5 percent for the global economy in 2012,” he mentioned.

According to him, “at the present rate, Africa’s cumulative GDP is expected to rise from 1.5 trillion to 3 trillion by 2020. This means the potential for job creation, housing, quality education, improved healthcare, modern transportation networks, and opportunities for quality livelihoods, is limitless”.

He said: “Africa has taken advantage of the benefits of information technology to leapfrog its developmental processes” and added that: “Today, subscription and usage of mobile phones in Africa has surpassed subscription in Europe and America combined, and the industry employs over 5 million people”.

Mr. Mahama’s reposition of confidence in Ghana’s economy comes days after the 2012 Vice Presidential Candidate of his country’s biggest opposition party, NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, accused him of running the economy down.

It also follows recent calls by policy think tank, Danquah Institute, that a critical national dialogue be held on “Ghana’s spiraling public debt stock”.

The group’s call came on the heels of a report by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank that Ghana’s total debt stock has ballooned by Ghc8.8 billion since January 2013.

The MPC said in the report that Ghana’s total public debt stock “increased to GHc43.9 billion (49.5% of GDP) at the end of August 2013, from GHc35.1 billion in December 2012.”

DI, in its statement, said it blamed the “mad rush for loans” for the soaring debt stock.