Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has asked former President John Dramani Mahama to keep up with data before making pronouncement about the country’s economy, lest he embarrasses himself.
Speaking at a media interaction after a COVID-19 response team meeting on Monday, the Vice President dismissed the former leader’s claims of the economy tumbling following the COVID-19 outbreak asking Ghanaians to disregard same.
“My humble advice to former President John Mahama is [that he should] take a look at the data, this is not green book data. Take a look at the data before you speak, otherwise, you will end up embarrassing yourself. When it comes to the data, it has been very clear; in agricultural growth, we have performed better; industry growth, we have performed better; inflation, we have performed better, on interest rate, we did perform better; exchange rate depreciation, we have performed better. That is the data.
Flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) weeks ago re-echoed what he says is the grim economic realities of the country, as he took a swipe at government for false growth forecasts.
He said just a month experience of the global pandemic(coronavirus) has sent the much touted robust economy reeling from the crisis.
Mr. Mahama made the comment while responding to a question about the imminent recession of the Ghanaian economy, predicted by some economists in his maiden digital conversation Thursday, April,24, 2020.
“Its always necessary when you’re building an economy to have enough buffers and create fiscal space so that when you’re faced with a shock or adversity, you’re easily able to overcome it. unfortunately this government has used a lot of propaganda. They said the economy has been the best we ever had since independence.
“Unfortunately just one month of coronavirus and the economy is in ICU. If we didn’t run to the IMF, for the 1 billion rapid Credit facility, it’s possible that in the next two months probably salaries would not have been paid. And so our economy is on ventilators and it needs thinking to rescue it from the ICU.”
But the Vice President indicated that despite the heavy toll the Coronavirus pandemic has taken on the country’s economy, the government’s policy programmes and plans are still in progress.
He said statutory payments were still being made while road contracts are still ongoing.
The coronavirus pandemic is driving upheavals in the economies on the globe as countries are getting hit harder by the pandemic.
Nonetheless, the Akufo-Addo administration has made audacious statement about reviving the Ghanaian economy despite the extent of the crisis.
“We know what to do to bring back our economy back to life. What we do not know how to do is to bring people back to life” President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo told Ghanaians in an address to the nation on measures taken against the spread of the coronavirus.
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