The Minority caucus in Parliament has criticized President John Mahama’s assessment of the economy, insisting that he under-performed during his first term while former President Akufo-Addo over-performed.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, March 3, former Minister for Finance Dr Mohammed Amin Adam argued that Mahama failed to acknowledge key economic indicators that reflect the true state of the nation’s economy.
Dr Amin Adam noted that inflation alone does not determine economic performance, pointing out other critical factors such as real GDP growth, trade balance, current account balance, and the financial sector’s health.
“What the President also failed to do was to inform the people of Ghana that there are other significant measures of the performance of the economy that inform the state of the nation other than inflation alone,” he stated.
Highlighting economic growth under both administrations, Dr Amin Adam asserted that Akufo-Addo’s government outperformed Mahama’s in key economic indicators. “The average growth in real GDP for the first three quarters of 2024 was 6.4% and was expected to end the year at a rate above the IMF target of 4%.
This trend outperformed all projections and revised projections by both the IMF and the World Bank,” he explained.
He contrasted this with Mahama’s record in 2016, when economic growth stood at 3.4%, falling below the 5.4% target.
The Minority concluded that Mahama’s handling of the economy in his previous term was weak compared to Akufo-Addo’s administration, which they claim delivered superior results.
“If this is bad by President Mahama’s standard, see the President’s previous record—In 2016, the economy grew by 3.4% below a target of 5.4%. It was 4% the year before.
He under-performed by all standards, whilst President Akufo-Addo over-performed,” Dr Amin Adam stressed.
