President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has shot down calls by the minority in Parliament for the dismissal of the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta.
The President addressing Parliament during the State of the Nation stated that the positive economic outlook in the last one year is a clear indication that Mr. Ofori Atta is gradually becoming a national asset.
“Mr. Speaker, Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, is proving to be a national asset,” Mr. Akufo-Addo said amid wild chants from the minority in Parliament.
The President’s compliments comes after calls from the minority that the Finance Minister should be sacked or resign for his role in the 2.5billion bond saga.
Mr. Akufo-Addo addressing Parliament stated that “For the first time in a long while, our macroeconomic fundamentals are solid, and all the critical indices are pointing in the right direction…as a result of appropriate policy, and the normalisation of the power situation in the country, they have also engineered a spectacular revival of Ghanaian industry, from a growth rate of -0.5% in 2016 to 17.7% in 2017.
“The annual average rate of debt accumulation which in recent years, has been as high as 36%, has declined to 13.6%, as at September 2017. As a result, the public debt stock as a ratio of GDP is 68.3%, against the annual target of 71% for 2017, and end 2016 actual figure of 73.1%.
“We have, nevertheless, been able to meet my promise made last year to the House, and reduced the fiscal deficit from 9.3%, to an estimated 5.6% of GDP.”
President Akufo-Addo in his speech stated that the world is taking notice of Ghana’s economic strides. According to him, earlier, in January, the World Bank stated that Ghana’s economy would probably grow by 8.3% this year, which would make it the fastest growing economy in the world.
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