I did not leave behind an economic mess – John Mahama

Former President John Dramani Mahama, the Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said no economic mess was left by his previous administration as insinuated by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), rather the NPP took over a stabilised economy.

“When I left office, the debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 57 per cent and the optimum GDP for middle income countries as recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is 60 per cent,” he stated.

“My administration was under the recommended debt to GDP but today, the debt to GDP is more than 100 percent.”

Mr Mahama was speaking at a town hall meeting in Tamale on Tuesday as part of his Building Ghana Tour in parts of the Northern Region.

He said inflation, prior to his exit from office, was 15.5 per cent but increased to 54 per cent under the NPP-led Government and subsequently dropped to 30 per cent.

Cocoa production under the current administration had reduced to under 500,000 metric tonnes from 960,000 metric tonnes under the NDC administration, Former President Mahama said.

He said his government secured a syndicated loan of 1.8 billion dollars at two percent based on the cocoa production value whereas the current government had 800 million dollars at eight percent underscoring the deficit in cocoa production.

“When we left office, we gave the NPP two new oil fields to triple oil revenue. All the work we did as NDC was with only one field, which is the Jubilee field.”

"The Stabilisation Fund, which aided the country’s survival during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ghana Infrastructural Investment Fund, which was being used for the Agenda 111 hospital projects, were both established under his administration," Mr Mahama said.

"There were 300 million dollars and 270 million dollars, respectively, in each fund," he added.

“With all these, how did I leave a mess? The constant talk of Mahama left us a mess is a myth and not true. They created the mess themselves,” the former President said.