2018 Will Provide True Test For ‘Recovering’ Economy – IMANI Boss

IMANI Africa President, Franklin Cudjoe believes the real test for the Akufo-Addo administration’s economic management team will come in 2018, following the macroeconomic gains made in 2017.

Speaking on The Big Issue, the policy analyst cited the restricted spending in 2017 and increased budgetary allocations for 2018 as the reasons government will have to be wary of this year.

His comments were in response to President Nana Akufo-Addo’s State of the Nation Address, which highlighted the improved prospects of Ghana’s economy.

Progress made in the economy in 2017 included reduced inflation, increased economic growth, a rise in GDP by up to 7.9 percent, and an increase in Ghana’s international reserves.

The President, among other things, also noted that the World Bank has projected that Ghana’s economy will probably grow by 8.3 percent this year, which will be the fastest in the world in 2018.

Mr. Cudjoe acknowledge the economy’s growth as being “stellar” but said a proper reading the Akufo-Addo government’s handling of the economy will be in 2019 and beyond.

“There has been a stellar performance. The macroeconomic outlook is looking great but it is also looking great on the back of restricted spending in the first year. It is this year and the subsequent years that will actually test these macroeconomic figures, especially now that we have made huge budgetary allocations, to the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives for instance. The real test of the fortitude of the management of the economy will then be felt.”

Boldness with IMF deal

President Akufo-Addo, during his address, said he expected the improving macroeconomic indicators to usher Ghana out of the International Monetary Fund programme later this year after his administration extended the 2015 programme.

In response to this, Mr. Cudjoe said: “it was very reassuring to hear the President say that we were going to get out of the IMF deal, which is very useful.”

He lauded the boldness and optimism of the government to declare it would exceed the IMF’s projections.

“For the first time, we were able to tell the IMF that these are the expectation of the economy but we think that we can do better because we had put in place certain measures that would ensure private sector growth and enhance opportunities within the economy so that your fear that the economy may be going to a downward spiral may not actually happen,” the IMANI Africa President said.

Source: Citifmonline