SoNA 2021: My government has stabilized the economy – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has told Parliament that his administration has stabilized the Ghanaian economy.

Presenting his last State of the Nation Address (SoNA) in his first term on Tuesday, January 5, the President explained that his government inherited a difficult economy after the 2016 elections.

However, he said, "We have been able to stabilize the economy, restored confidence in the economy.”

“The economy has been fairly stabilized,” he stressed.

He mentioned Ghana’s exit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme entered into by the Mahama administration as one of the indicators of a buoyant economy he has built.

“Single-digit inflation, relatively stable exchange rate, three consecutive years of trade de surplus, reduced lending rates and others as some of the indications that he has built a strong economy."

Meanwhile speaking on the address delivered by the President, a lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr. Lord Mensah said one cannot tell whether or not the economy is going up or down.

He told TV3’s Roland Walker that: “We can’t tell whether with Ghana’s economy we are going up or we are coming down."

“Clearly there are some years that we came up and there are some years that we went down. One of the most hit years is 2020 from the second quarter coming downwards."

“It is a year that the true test of our economy came into play whether we have resilient enough to receive shocks or not. This is a global shock. This is not an economy that you can clearly say that we have moved up.”