Economy On Track – Ofori Atta

Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance, says the country's economy is on track, as major macroeconomic indicators are trending in the right direction.

Mr. Ofori-Atta, who addressed Parliament yesterday in Accra, said developments from January to June 2017 indicated that the President's policies and programmes were yielding the expected results and “in some case exceeding expectations.”

Recounting some of its success stories, Mr Ofori-Atta said the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter of this year grew by 6.6 percent against 4.4 percent for the same period in 2016.

Noting that inflation reduced to 12.1 percent at the end of June 2017 from 15.4 percent at end December 2016, he said interest rates were on the decline.

“For example, the 91-day treasury bill rates have reduced from 16.4 percent at end 2016 to 12.08 percent at end June 2017.

“The fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP for the period January-June 2017 was 2.7 percent compared with a deficit of 4.0 percent over the same period in 2016;

“The primary surplus for January-June 2017 was 0.6 percent of GDP compared to a deficit of 1.3 percent over the same period in 2016.”

The Minister said gross international reserves at the end of June 2017 was US$5.9 billion, the equivalent of 3.4 months of import cover, up from US$4.9 billion at the end of December 2016, equivalent to 2.8 months of import cover.

“These indicators clearly show that the economy is on the path of recovery and investor confidence has been restored. Additionally, the business and consumer confidence surveys by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) conducted in June 2017 broadly reflect positive sentiments in the direction of the economy as noted in the July edition of the Bank of Ghana's MPC press release.”

He revealed that based on the significant progress that has been made in macroeconomic stability and improvements in real GDP growth, the Fitch Rating Agency, on 12^th May 2017, revised its outlook on Ghana's long term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) from Negative to Stable and affirmed the country's IDR at B.

“We are optimistic that we will sustain the gains made in macroeconomic stability and instill more confidence in the economy for both domestic and international investors.”

BY Samuel Boadi
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