Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has said that Ghana’s economy has grown by $20 billion despite the challenges faced by the current administration as of 2023.

Speaking at the Town Hall meeting of the Ministry of Information in Accra on Tuesday, Dr. Adam said that the growth in the size of the economy was achieved with inflation dropping from 54% in 2022 to 22% as of June 2024.

Comparing same with that of 2013, he said that under Mahama’s administration, the size of the economy was pegged at $64 billion, however, this reduced to $56 billion in 2016.

Dr Adam said as of 2023 the size of the Ghanaian economy was pegged at $76 billion “so in nominal terms the economy has grown by $20 billion under Akufo-Addo government”.

According to the minister, the government took tough economic decisions in the midst of the global economic crises occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war and that these decisions were beginning to yield positive results.

He cited the Domestic Debt Exchange programme (DDP) which saw 95 per cent participation by local bond holders as one of the numerous tough decisions taken by the government.

The minister said that the government recorded $3.4 billion trade surplus in 2023, as against $1.8 billion trade deficit recorded under the Mahama government in 2016.

On inflation rate, he said that government’s resilient policies and programmes had led to a drastic reduction in inflation rate from 54 per cent in 2022 to 22 per cent as of June this year.

“By the end of this year, the inflation will come down to 15 per cent and hopefully, if we are given the mandate in the December 7 election, we will bring it down to a single digit by 2025,” the report by the Ghanaian Times on Wednesday quoted Dr Adam as saying.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Minister of Information, Ms Fatimatu Abubakar, said that the town hall meetings would be organised across the 16 regions of Ghana till November this year.

The event, according to the minister, will enable regional ministers, chief executive officers of the various assemblies and sector ministers to answer questions from the public on their stewardship.

She said the feedback from the interactions with the public would assist government’s future policies and programmes.

GIK/APA