Akufo-Addo will leave stronger economy than Mahama, says Fatimatu Abubakar

Minister for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, has assured that President Nana Akufo-Addo will leave Ghana’s economy in a stronger position than when he took office in 2017.

Abubakar’s remarks come on the heels of a critique by National Democratic Congress (NDC) member Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, who questioned Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia’s economic management on Asaase Radio’s The Forum on Saturday (2 November). 

Samoa Addo expressed frustration with the current state of the economy, focusing on the rapid depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar.

“There has been serious issues with the economy,” Samoa Addo said. “That’s the problem a lot of us have with Dr. Bawumia. Dr. Bawumia’s leadership, his skill [and] his competence is in the economy, economic management.”

“Just on Friday, I was going to travel; I wanted to travel in two weeks so I needed a few dollars and I said, Let me go see ‘abochi’ (the black market). So I went to ‘abochi;’ ‘abochi’ is at GHC17.3 [to US$1].”

Abubakar, also speaking on The Forum, firmly rejected these criticisms, defending the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) government’s record. 

She argued that President Akufo-Addo’s administration had achieved substantial economic improvements over the NDC’s record, pointing to data to support her claim.

“President Akufo-Addo will leave for Ghana a better economy than former President [John Dramani] Mahama and NDC left for Ghana,” she asserted.

“Check from the indicators. Ghana’s GDP growth for the year 2016, the growth rate was 3.4%; even give them the NDC figures [of] 3.6%. President Akufo-Addo will leave Ghana with a GDP better than what Mahama left us.”

Abubakar highlighted the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) upward revisions of Ghana’s growth projections as evidence of the country’s economic resilience. 

“This year alone, on two occasions, IMF itself has revealed their projections on Ghana upwards, twice,” she said. 

“They first projected Ghana’s GDP growth for this year at 2.8% and then the first quarter growth came and it was in excess of 5% and they adjusted up to 3.1%.”

“After the third review, they mentioned that they are going to upgrade the projection upwards and projected us to 4% and Ghana’s second quarter growth was about 6.9%.”

For Abubakar, these figures tell a compelling story of economic progress under the current administration. 

“The first half of this year, the average growth rate is 5.8%,” she added, “a better GDP growth rate than NDC could ever dream of because even in 2015, they could not even reach a growth rate of 3%.”

Abubakar went on to highlight the impact of the government’s industrial policies, such as the ‘One District, One Factory’ initiative, which she credited as the driving force behind Ghana’s economic growth. 

“Our total GDP as at the time that Mahama was leaving office in January 2017 was around US$56 billion. Today, in 2024, our GDP has expanded by US$20 billion; US$20 billion is more than a third of Ghana’s GDP as President Akufo-Addo inherited it.”

“Do you know what is leading the growth? Industry. Do you know why industry is leading the growth? Because of one district, one factory and other interventions that President Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s government has introduced in Ghana,” she concluded.

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