A Senior Lecturer and a Senior Research Fellow of the Kumasi Technical University , Dr Smart Sarpong, has stated that Ghana’s economy has never been firm under the fourth republic.
His comment comes after International Monitory Fund’s (IMF) representatives assured Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta in helping Ghana revive its economy.
Speaking to Kwaku Dawuro on Movement In The Morning Show, Dr Sarpong he said that ‘’the economy of Ghana has not been stable for a long time, we have to all come together and build a steady economy. If you look at the economic indicators such as inflation, during President Jerry John Rawlings’ era, inflation rose to 52% and before he handed over to President Kufuor in 2004, it was at 42%. President Kufuor managed to reduce inflation to 19%. If an economy can have stability, inflation must be very low. Late President Atta Mills did his best by bringing inflation to 11% and later to 9%. When former President John Mahama became President, inflation shot up to17%. In 2016 when President Akufo-Addo assumed power, he helped the country to attain a single digit in terms of inflation until the upsurge of covid-19 in 2020’’.
”If you look at all the economic indicators, it tells you that we have never had a stable economy. If we want a more stable economy, we must make sure everything that pertains to the economy is looked at to ensure economic health. With or without Covid-19 and the Russian Ukraine war inflation has always been high under the fourth republic due to high rate of import. President Akufo-Addo cannot be blamed”, he added.
He advised Ghanaians to get rid of everything that has become a threat to economic growth.