The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has urged citizens to ignore negative comments made by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) about the government and the economy, citing deliberate lies and smear campaigns.
The NPP contends that the NDC knows very well that external factors, not mismanagement, are responsible for the current economic woes.
At a press conference held in Accra, Richard Ahiagbah, the National Communications Director of the NPP, stated, “Unfortunately, for far too long, matters about the economy have been mischaracterised by the NDC concerning the governance of the NPP.”
He added, “It was to update the public about the state of the economy.”
On the performance of the economy, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Ahiagbah noted that the NDC supervised a perpetual decline from 2013 to 2016.
“In 2013, when former President John Mahama took over, the GDP was 7.3 per cent and contracted it to four per cent in 2014. In 2015, the same trajectory continued, from four per cent to 3.7 per cent in 2016,” he explained.
Ahiagbah then stated that the NDC mismanaged the economy so badly that it shrank by 42% compared to 2013, saying “All these show you that the NDC has not really done right and they have not managed this economy any better than they would like to claim, the numbers don't support that.”
Contrary to the NDC's grim performance, Ahiagbah noted that the NPP grew the GDP by 8.1% from 2017, with industry recording its highest growth of 16.7%, agriculture at 8.4%, and the services sector at 4.3%.
He added that the industry grew from a negative 0.5% in 2016 to 16.7% in 2017.
Ahiagbah reiterated the government's commitment to mitigating the country's socio-economic difficulties through the implementation of various interventions, including the Gold4Oil policy, stating, “Through these innovative measures, the government is demonstrating its resolve to build back the economy quickly and restore fiscal rectitude.”
