‘Critics urged to give due credit to govt’
The Director of Political Affairs at the Presidency, Mr Frank Asiedu Bekoe, has called on critics of the government to do objective criticism and give credit to the government when credit is due.
According to him, the government had performed well in many areas, especially in the stabilisation of the economy, a feat he said was acknowledged by many economists, including Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
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“I want to ask why the critics of the government are silent on the recent lecture by Professor Soludo,” he said in an interview with the Daily Graphic last Sunday.
The interview was to shed light on the lecture by Prof. Soludo during the inaugural economic forum organised in memory of former Vice-President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur.
He said the lecture by Prof. Soludo proved that the economic indicators being put across by the government were true reflections of the country’s economy and that the development of the country was on the right track.
“The critics of the government, especially the opposition parties, are fond of organising press conferences and rebutting whenever information comes out that Ghana’s economy is improving. I wonder why they have not responded to Prof. Soludo’s lecture,” he said.
Professor Soludo’s lecture
On June 28, 2019, Prof. Soludo delivered a lecture as the keynote speaker at the inaugural economic forum organised in memory of the late former Vice-President, Mr Amissah-Arthur.
He described Ghana as one of the big economic giants in Africa and touted the country’s efforts to stabilise and improve the economy.
According to him, Ghana was doing well economically as compared with Nigeria.
“On the size of GDP, Ghana is now the 10th largest in Africa, with GDP growth averaging over six per cent. Nigeria is stuck at two per cent. Unemployment is less than three percent, but Nigeria is at 23 per cent. Youth unemployment is about 13 per cent while Nigeria’s is 36 per cent.
Poverty index is eight to 10 per cent depending on the measure of poverty, while inflation is around nine per cent, and this is very important.
Ghana is the most stable country in West Africa,” he stated.
Prof. Soludo said the comparison was not to belittle Nigeria but rather to highlight the progress Ghana had made economically.
Ghana is progressing
Mr Bekoe said due to the country’s enviable economic performance, it had been given the mandate to host the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“This is a big achievement. The government has not solved all the problems in the country, and there are many challenges, but we are on the right path. This shows that Ghana is a business friendly and an investment destination in Africa,” he added.
