Professor of Applied Economics at the Johns Hopkins University-USA, Steve Hanke, has hit hard at President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, over his promises to the Ghanaian populace.
In a tweet, Prof Hanke said the president’s promises have never held substance and were always untrue.
The renowned economist was responding to President Akufo-Addo’s assures that Ghana’s economy will bounce back stronger by 2024.
“Pres. Akufo-Addo promises that he will make Ghana’s economy “bounce back.” SPOILER ALERT: Akufo-Addo’s promises HAVE NEVER and WILL NEVER hold water. Today, I measure GHA’s inflation at a punishing,” Prof Hanke tweeted.
The economy in recent times has been in a meltdown with Ghanaians lamenting the increased cost of living relative to record high inflation rates on products and fuel price hikes.
Additionally, global rating agencies such as Standard and Poor’s (S&P) and Fitch have downgraded Ghana’s economy preventing it from accessing the international capital market.
The government has partly blamed the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war as causes for the economic challenges.
President Akufo-Addo together with his appointees has assured that it will steer the country out of the economic quagmire stating that its move to the International Monetary Fund was a short-term solution.
Ghana is said to be targeting an amount of $3 billion over three years from the International Monetary Fund once an agreement on a programme is reached. The new amount requested as a loan was double the government’s initial target of $1.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Professor Emeritus Stephen Adei in an interview with Accra-based Asaase Radio on August 17, said that President Akufo-Addo prior to his election as president overpromised the electorate with respect to his policies and programmes.
In his view, the president should have adopted a strategy of sequencing the rollout of his initiatives upon the assumption of office.
This he believes would have afforded the government enough time to laser focus its resources on some key projects at a time.
Pres. Akufo-Addo promises that he will make Ghana’s economy “bounce back.” SPOILER ALERT: Akufo-Addo’s promises HAVE NEVER and WILL NEVER hold water. Today, I measure GHA’s inflation at a punishing 78%/yr. That’s ∼2.5 TIMES the official rate.https://t.co/Eo3Fgp748D— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) September 7, 2022
