News:
July 26, 2024
Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Abena Osei-Asare contributing to the 2024 mid-year budget review said the Ghanaian economy is on the path of recovery, with the policy being put in place despite being under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
According to her in the first quarter of 2024 growth moved around 4.7percent, this is way higher than what we saw in 2023 same year which was around 3.1 percent.
The most exciting thing she noted is that it is industry that is driving this growth rate. Industry went up by 6.8 percent followed by agriculture by 4.1 percent and services 3.1 percent. “This should tell you that the economy is on the path of recovery and we are happy with the policy we are putting in place to ensure the economy gets back on track”.
“Mr. Speaker, we all saw inflation going up by 54.1 percent in December 2022, currently this year June inflation has fallen to 22.8 percent due to policy put in place and the Bank of Ghana monetary policy exchange rate being moderated.
We want to bring it to a level that works for all of us. Gross International Reserves is improving compared to 2023 it was around two point five months of import but as we speak its 3.1 months import at the end of June.
Trade balance and all our external balance are trending in the positive so this should tell you we are making some recovery and it is the structure reforms we have put in place to get to where we are.
We never derailed the IMF programme prior to 2022, we were on truck and completed fully prior to 2020; and again currently we just received our third tranche of three hundred and sixty million dollars bringing the total to one point five billion dollars. We are bent on living within the IMF programme, she affirmed.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com