Economy will not collapse under my watch – Prez Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says his government has inherited an economy of low growth, rising unemployment, high fiscal deficit, high rising debt and increasing depreciation of the cedi, high cost of food, housing and utility and high non-performing loans among others.

He blamed the previous National Democratic Congress government for the declined state of the economy through its persistent borrowing and policy choices, but he said his government will reverse the trend and build a more successful economy.

In his maiden State of the Nation Address to Parliament Tuesday, President Akufo-Addo said his government will implement tough, prudent and innovative policies that will revive the economy, adding that he will not allow the economy to “collapse under his watch”.

According to the president, Ghana’s economic growth has also declined dramatically notwithstanding the record amount of financial resources at the disposal of the previous government.

He said despite the previous NDC government having ten times the financial resources than any government since independence, “More debt was accumulated by the previous government in the last 8 years than all governments put together since independence.”

The president said Ghana’s total debt stock increased substantially in the last 8 years under the previous government with interest cost of this debt expected at an estimated 14.1 billion cedis in 2017.

He said “The increasing fiscal deficits were financed by increased borrowing”, explaining that as at the beginning of 2009, Ghana’s total debt stock was 9.5 billion cedis, but by the end of 2016, the total debt stock had ballooned to 122 billion cedis.

He said these problems are symptoms of deeper structural problems that will require a range of reforms in the short to medium and long term to fix.

Source: Graphic