Credit NDC for growth in economy – Oye Lithur

The former Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, has lashed out at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for not crediting the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led government in the 2018 budget statement on the macro economic performance of the country.

She said the robust performance of the economy is as a result of the prudent economic decisions made by the previous NDC economic management team.

“Under no imaginable circumstance can the NPP government claim that they have achieved this wonderful macroeconomic performance. A significant amount of this credit should go to the NDC government. It should go to Seth Tekper, Mona, Ato Forson, John Mahama, and the NDC economic management team”, she said.

She made this statement as a panel member on Joy FM’s NewsFile last Saturday.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, in presenting the 2018 budget statement on Wednesday, said government had restored macroeconomic stability, which eventually strengthened the value of money in the pockets of Ghanaians and also gave businesses the predictability space to plan and invest, thereby sowing the seeds for economic growth and job creation.

He said interest rates in 2017 continued to decline in response to the improvement in the macroeconomic fundamentals, easing inflation and exchange rate stability.

However, Nana Oye Lithur is of the conviction that the interest rate started declining in the first quarter of 2015 when NDC was in power, and that it fell from 26.32% to 18.5%, a difference of 8.8%.

“During NPP time it has fallen from 18.5% to 14.1%, a difference of 4.4% so who has done better? What Ken Ofori Atta did was to read a ‘victors’ speech. When you talk about the 2017 sector growth for industry; it was 17.7%. It is attributable to the oil and gas and that is even upstream. So what is the actual impact on the lives of the people and what did he do as a Minister? We implemented the FPSO Kuffour so he cannot claim this 17.7% growth as if he has done something”, she stressed.

According to her, the 2018 budget does not address the current socio-economic challenges facing the country, and further noted that it offers no hope for Ghanaians.