The President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, says he recognises the frustration of organised labour over the dislocations in the economy but is highly confident of a massive turnaround by the end of this year.
He said change naturally did not happen overnight and indicated that the government had put in place measures to get out of the economic challenges.
Addressing a May Day rally at the Black Star Square in Accra Thursday, the President said the journey might look long to some people, yet in reality it was so close.
Though he would not attempt to apportion blame for the current economic difficulties confronting the nation, he said it was also a fact that "the mistakes of the past have finally caught up with us".
He said, for instance, that years of under-investment in key social institutions had begun to take a toll on the economy.
Mr Mahama also mentioned the "disconnect between our new found middle-income consumption and our own income productive capacity" as one of the causes of the economic hardships.
The middle-income status, he noted, was achieved suddenly, when it was all clear that the various institutional prerequisites were not in place.
"I am saying this not to apportion blame to any particular government. As a government, we take full responsibility for finding solutions to all the challenges," he submitted.
He told the workers that the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) had been tasked to produce a transformation agenda for the nation, which would be rolled out before the end of this year.
Progress
Even as the distance to economic recovery was yet to be completed, the President said, it was important for the successes achieved so far to be given due recognition.
"Sometimes when the journey looks too long and too difficult, we stand to look back to see how far we have travelled and the progress made," he said.
He mentioned maternal mortality, education, health and safe drinking water as some of the areas in which significant strides had been made.
He said maternal mortality had gone down from 700 deaths per every 100,000 live births to 300 per 100,000 within the last decade, while in education 25,000 out-of-school children had been enrolled in school.
Market forces
The President said although it would be difficult to rule out the role of the market in shaping the economy, it was important to ensure that the market worked for the people.
He said very soon laws on consumer protection, as well as other initiatives to harmoniously link the market with the state, would be rolled out.
EPA
Mr Mahama also touched on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and assured Ghanaians that the government would not do anything that would go against the interest of the people.
In that regard, he said, the views of all stakeholders were being considered, and indicated that West African nations would meet with the European Union in Accra this month to undertake a renegotiation of the agreement.