Economist Dismantles Akufo-Addo’s Claim of a Thriving Economy; Insists Ghana is Broke

Outgoing President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has come under heavy criticism following his claim that the country is not broke amid the Ghana debt crisis.

President Akufo-Addo during his last State of the Nation’s Address on Friday argued that he was leaving behind a robust economy with faster than expected economic growth rate and a US$8 billion Gross International Reserves.

But the claim of the President has come under heavy scrutiny following his address to parliament in the wake of the Ghana debt crisis.

Economist at the University of Ghana Business School, Prof. Patrick Asuming is arguing that the President’s claim cannot be true. He maintains that the prevailing economic conditions are clear indications of the Ghana debt crisis, showing that the country is broke and grappling with a huge economic mess.

In an interview with Accra-based JoyNews, Prof. Patrick Asuming cannot fathom why the President would make such claims at a time when the country has defaulted on its loan repayment obligations. The country, he says literally begged for mercy from its creditors during the Ghana debt crisis.

He further argues that how can a country that is not broke fail to pay the allowances of National Service Persons for months? The economist also mentioned the inability of the government to pay WAEC to mark examination papers as a testament to how broke the country is amidst the Ghana debt crisis.

“We are begging [creditors] to forgive us and to slash us part of our debt. If that doesn’t mean that we are broke, I don’t know what else that means. We have seen recently even WAEC struggling to get funding they require funding to mark the papers for students to come to school,” the Economist narrated, further emphasizing the Ghana debt crisis.

He added, “If you ask people who are in the national service, I think they are owed at least two months’ pay. So if really the economy is not broke and yet you refuse to make this payment, I guess some people can say it’s just pure wickedness. But it’s not the case that the economy is not broke. The economy is very broke.”

Prof. Asuming further states that despite the claim of economic growth, unemployment is on the rise worsening the living conditions of many Ghanaians.

“When we look at all the indicators, including some of the more granular microdata that the Statistical Service releases. So you know that while the GDP number says the economy is growing faster than expected, we also see that the labor market is getting bigger. More Ghanaians are becoming vulnerable to food insecurity. So I think perhaps the president is choosing and picking more specific data to support the claim that the economy is doing better,” he added.

The economist therefore indicated that the future is more gloomy as the new government prepares to take over. In his view, the real difficulties of the economy will unfold after the new government settles in insisting that the much-touted recovery by the current government is just a facade amidst the Ghana debt crisis.

This sends a signal to Ghanaians and businesses to budget for uncertainties and more hardships as the real state of the economy will be unveiled after the new government.

Other analysts also share the same sentiments as Prof. Asuming.

An Associate Professor of Finance at Andrews University, Michigan, in the United States, Prof. Williams Peprah, has disputed President Akufo-Addo’s claim regarding the state of the Ghana economy, stating that the country is “technically broke” based on its financial indicators. Prof. Peprah argues that Ghana’s economic indicators suggest otherwise.