“We know the economy that is in crisis is the Dumsor economy which he[former President Mahama] left…” that is the contention of the Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. John Kumah.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has said the country is currently in an economic crisis.
This, he believes, cannot be blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic, but what he described as a “reckless economic management” superintended by the NPP government since 2017.
“Yes, COVID-19 affected the economy, and no one can dispute that. It is however not the main reason why we are in the current hole we find ourselves. COVID19 only became a pretext for reckless election-related spending, which produced the largest-ever budget deficit in the recent economic history of Ghana last year,” Mr Mahama said when he spoke at the NDC Professionals Forum at the Cedi Conference Centre of the University of Ghana on Monday, September 6, 2021.
In a reaction to the claims made by the former President on GHOne TV, Dr. John Kumah said he’s puzzled by the views held by Mr Mahama on the economy insisting the upswing in economic activity in Akufo-Addo’s regime is manifestation of a strong economy.
“We are surprised to hear that His Excellency the former president wants us to believe that the Dunsor economy which he left was better than the free education economy we’re enjoying today even in the midst of Covid.
“I disagree with him on this conclusion because you see, Covid is not a Ghana problem. It’s a global universal problem. In fact America, the country that everybody believed had the wherewithal to contain Covid, they needed to create about $1.9 trillion just to shore up the economy.
“Add all the G20 countries, they have borrowed $77 trillion to be able to hold their economy together. So clearly anybody that says Covid is not the cause of our woes, probably is not really willing to accept the realities of where the world is now.
“So we know that before Covid, the economy of Ghana was one of the best growing economies in the World. Infact, we were growing on average of 7% and things were going very well. Even in 2021 that we’re trying to rebound from Covid, we have grown 3.1% in the 1st quarter. We’ve grown over 8% in the 2nd quarter and still, we’re doing well. So it shows that listening to President Mahama and the NDC, one thing was clear, no new idea, in terms of alternative on how we can manage this economy. And if they claim that we’ve overborrowed why is the IMF that they claim we should go to is bringing us even $1 billion. Just last week, IMF brought Ghana additional $1 billion to be able to manage the Ghanaian economy from Covid. So this is a global situation that has been properly handled by President Akufo-Addo and his government, and we expect the NDC to acknowledge that fact and not to deny it.”
