Ghana’s Economy Showing Signs of Strong Recovery – Finance Minister

Ghana’s economy, is showing a great sign of recovery, Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has said yesterday Monday, July 1.

Addressing journalists at a joint press conference with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Accra, the Minister, underscored the positive economic indicators for the first quarter of 2024, pointing out a favourable outlook for the rest of 2024.

“Growth, as we’ve heard from the previous two distinguished speakers, is proving to be more resilient and robust than initially programmed, and the economy continues to show strong signs of recovery, particularly in the first quarter of 2024,” he said.

Dr Amin Adam’s comments, come as Ghana has secured the IMF Board’s approval of the second review of the $3 billion programme, allowing for the immediate release of $360 million to Ghana and bringing the total disbursements to $1.56 billion.

Dr Adam, emphasised that the overall macroeconomic environment, remains stable as the government continues to implement the IMF-supported programme.

“The results were remarkable. Overall real GDP growth for quarter one 2024 was 4.7%, the highest since quarter one of 2022. This growth performance is better than the 3.1% growth recorded in the same period in 2023.

This growth performance is better than the 3.1% growth recorded in the same period in 2023. Industry grew the most at 6.8%, followed by agriculture at 4.1% and services at 3.3%”.

According to him, “the 2024 GDP growth rate is the highest since Q4 of 2020. The growth in industry is particularly interesting; in the past, growth came largely from services and, to some extent, agriculture”.

“The industry did not perform well. So, if we are beginning to see the industry performing well, it tells us that the real recovery is here.

Manufacturing is going to grow continuously, and that will mean more jobs being created for the Ghanaian people, more wealth being created for the Ghanaian people, and therefore we have turned the corner, as we have said over and over,” he stated.

Dr Adam noted that, the 2024 Quarter 1 GDP growth rate, is the highest since quarter four of 2020.

The Finance Minister, reiterated the government’s commitment to maintaining macroeconomic stability and fostering sustainable growth through continued implementation of the IMF-supported programme.

This announcement, follows the completion of the IMF Executive Board’s second review of Ghana’s US$3 billion, 36-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangement.

Approved back in May 2023, this review was a critical checkpoint for the country.

The completion of this review meant an immediate disbursement of roughly $360 million, bringing Ghana’s total disbursements under the arrangement to about $1.6 billion.

The Finance Minister, confirmed that the third tranche of the IMF’s 360 million dollar release is expected to hit Ghana’s account today, Monday, July 1.

According to the IMF, Ghana’s performance under the programme, has been generally strong.

Unpatriotic conducts

Meanwhile, Dr Amin Adam, at the same event also took a swipe at the Bolgatanga Central Member of Parliament (MP), Isaac Adongo, for allegedly encouraging people to purchase dollars for their business operations.

The Minister, accused Mr Adongo of attempting to undermine the Ghanaian Cedi and cause further depreciation.

Dr Amin Adam, who also serves as the Karaga MP, described his colleague actions as inappropriate.

He claimed, Mr Adongo’s comments were intentionally made to incite negative sentiments against the recent appreciation of the local currency.

Despite these remarks, Dr Amin Adam, reassured the public and the business community that the Cedi has shown gradual improvement compared to the same period last year.

He emphasised that, the Cedi is poised for significant growth with the forthcoming receipt of the fourth tranche of the IMF loan and the completion of the debt restructuring programme.

Dr Amin Adam, attributed the positive performance of the Cedi to the exemplary leadership of President Akufo-Addo and the support of the Ghanaian people for government initiatives.

He urged citizens to remain confident in the measures being taken to stabilise and strengthen the national currency.

“We have said over and over that the problem with the Cedi can also be largely attributed to speculation, and therefore while we’ve been making efforts to influence market sentiments positively, we also know that some other people are inciting speculation. We have had intelligence that people have been deliberately inciting speculation but we never got it too real as we saw only two or three days ago.”

“When my good friend and brother, Isaac Adongo, went out there urging people to buy dollars to do their business and this was after I indicated at a town hall meeting in the UK that with all the policies we are implementing and with the flows that we are expecting from external sources and with the completion of the debt restructuring with our bilateral official creditors and Eurobond holders, we saw the Cedi becoming stronger and stronger. My brother went out there to say people should ignore Amin Adam and go out there and buy dollars,” he said.

The Minister, also stated that Ghana’s economy, is showing strong signs of recovery.

He highlighted the positive economic indicators for the first quarter of 2024, suggesting a favourable outlook for the remainder of the year.

Dr Amin Adam, emphasised that the overall macroeconomic environment, remains stable as the government continues to implement the IMF-supported programme.

This announcement comes after the IMF Executive Board completed its second review of Ghana’s US$3 billion, 36-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangement.

“Growth, as we’ve heard from the previous two distinguished speakers, is proving to be more resilient and robust than initially programmed, and the economy continues to show strong signs of recovery, particularly in the first quarter of 2024,” stated Dr Adam.

“The results were remarkable. Overall, real GDP growth for quarter one of 2024 was 4.7%, the highest since quarter one of 2022. This growth performance is better than the 3.1% growth recorded in the same period in 2023,” he added.

Source: Anchorghana.com