Akufo-Addo 'master of economic mismanagement' – US economist Steve Hanke

US professor of Applied Economics, Steve Hanke, has described President Nana Akufo-Addo as master of economic mismanagement.

Referencing the Afrobarometer report which says 87 per cent of Ghanaians believe the world's second-largest cocoa producer is heading in the wrong direction, Prof Hanke remarked: "I'm not surprised", explaining: "President Akufo-Addo has been the master of economic mismanagement".

Ghana just secured financing assurances from her bilateral partners to restructure $5.7 billion of the gold producer's external debt, as part of the requirements for an IMF bailout of $3 billion.

The country's inflation peaked at almost 54% until recently when it started falling.

It is currently around 41 per cent.
The cedi also lost about 45 per cent of its value against the dollar and other major international currencies of trade last year.

It started holding its own some months ago.
Bloomberg recently described as the best-performing currency in the world after holding the worst-performing title throughout last year.

According to Bloomberg, the cedi has advanced 33% since November, the biggest gain among about the 150 currencies it has been tracking.

However, prices of goods and services are still high.

The government expects that the soon-to-be-disbursed US$3 billion bailout by the IMF, would enable Ghana to return to the international capital market to borrow more to set the economy back on track.

Source: Classfmonline.com