It’s Easy For People To Say It’s Mismanagement, I Don’t Accept That; Akufo-Addo On Economy

The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that he does not accept criticisms that the downturn in the country’s economy is a result of his government’s mismanagement.

Speaking about his decision to seek an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme in an interview on Otec FM, the President said his government had little choice but to run to the Fund.

He noted that the economic recession sprag from external factors rather than internal ones.

“All through this year, the barrel price of crude oil has been over 100. I think recently it came back to over 90. The impact of prices on our budget is obvious. Arithmetic will tell you it is a major impact on our budget.

“You take that away and you look at other indices of what is happening in the world as a result of this unnecessary invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We import fertilisers….the war meant a huge escalation of prices in the prices of fertilisers across the world not just for Ghana. Freight rates, you are talking about the cost of importing things. Unfortunately…we are still a very much import-driven economy.

“All these factors-freight rates, fertilisers, commodity prices. We are talking about five-time increases in certain essential materials in the world. Definitely, it’s going to have a major impact on your balance of payments, your budget, and your ability to finance your budget. These are the difficulties that our economy has fallen into.”

According to him, it is easy for some persons to blame the economic recession on “mismanagement”, a criticism he says he doesn’t buy into.

“It’s very easy for people to say its mismanagement. I don’t accept that criticism. Ye because the reason why we got to where we are has very little to do with the Ghanaian economy and the way it was being managed. Everything has to do with what the economist calls exogenous factors.”

Addressing a press in September, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, said the economic crisis in which Ghana finds itself is a result of the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Like everybody on this planet, you have been hurt by exogenous shocks. First the pandemic then the Russia-Ukraine war and what we need to realise is we need to realise it’s not because of bad policies in the country but because of this combination of shocks”, she said.

This statement, however, attracted backlash from a section of Ghanaians including former President John Dramani Mahama, who thought the economic downturn resulted from bad policies by the government.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini