Mahama plays down Dutch Disease in oil and gas sector

President John Dramani Mahama has stressed that Ghana has been doing well before the discovery of oil on its territorial waters off-shore the Western Region.

In an exclusive interview with Radio France International after his meeting with French President Francois Hollande, President Mahama noted that: “The oil and gas industry is just a new opportunity that we are going to integrate into the opportunities that we have.”

He told RFI’s Daniel Singleton that though the oil and gas industry opens new opportunities for Ghana, the country will still step up development of other sectors to meet growing demands.

President Mahama's statement comes in the wake of calls by experts for government to manage expectation of Ghanaians over the discovery of oil. Many claimed the discovery of oil and gas may lead to the complete neglect of other potential industries, leading to a Dutch Disease.

Dutch Disease is the deindustrialization of a nation's economy that occurs when the discovery of a natural resource raises the value of that nation's currency, making manufactured goods less competitive with other nations, increasing imports and decreasing exports.

But President Mahama emphasized that: “We have increased cocoa production. We are working on increasing agricultural production. We are seeing agriculture grow especially in the crop sector at 5 per cent per annum which is a respectable growth. We are developing all our other sectors especially the tourism and every other sector in order that Ghana continues to maintain optimal growth.”

President Mahama also commended the French in sending troops to fight terrorists in the West African sub-region, stressing that their activities are threatening peace in the Sahel.