The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said Ghana’s economy is on the path to recovery after going through an economic turmoil in the previous years.
According to the Fund’s resident representative in Ghana, Dr. Leandro Medina, government has made some critical reforms and these critical actions by authorities will keep the economy on the right path.
He was speaking in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM where he commended government’s efforts to stick to the IMF programme and revive the economy.
“Despite a very difficult external environment, macro has been quite resilient, when you look at growth, we had to upgrade our projections because growth in 2023 has been more resilient, Inflation has been on a decreasing path, reserves have been increasing, and exchange volatility has also decreased.”
“It is extremely important to know where we are and where we intend to be. By no means are we there, [but] when we see early signs of stability emerging, this means that for example, inflation is down from 54 to 23, 23 is still high for inflation and way above the BoG target but we are getting there, we are on the right track.
Contrary to government’s assertions that the nation has turned the corner, Dr. Medina believes otherwise.
His comments buttressed that of Professor Godfred Bokpin, a professor of Finance at the University of Ghana (UG) who says the government has not turned the corner.
“If you take food inflation, we can say the average is 34% but food inflation in the Eastern Region is more than 50%. In the Northern Region is more than 50%. Again that same inflation varies from region to region so the average we are using but within that same economy, we see variation but somebody in the eastern region could not be saying I have turned the economy because food inflation is 53%. Just a couple of months ago, food inflation in Northern East is more than 75% in that same economy,” he said on Tuesday, January 2
On his part, Dr. Leandro Medina, said “the critical reforms have been made, critical actions by authorities have been taken and we are on the right path. Are we there? not yet, there are key objectives of this programme, that is to restore macroeconomic stability, secure sustainability, and lay the foundations for more durable and higher and more inclusive growth, we are not there yet but we are on the right path.”
He highlighted some positive indicators such as the downward trend in inflation, and a significant upsurge in the reserves of the Bank of Ghana, signifying a commendable effort to fortify the nation’s financial standing.
Dr Medina further applauded Ghana for their continuous collaboration with international financial institutions in navigating economic challenges and implementing prudent fiscal policies is yielding positive results.