Do not play politics with the economy-NPP

Accra, GNA - The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on the government not to play politics with the state of the economy, since it would not do the Ghanaian populace who voted them into power any good.

    

The party praised the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) for coming out with the accurate Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 7.3 percent despite the 6.2 percent which had earlier on been announced by the Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor.

    

"The GSS reported that for the year 2008, the real GDP grew at 7.3 percent, at least 1.1 percent higher than was reported in March by the Finance Minister", said Mr. Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Minority Leader at a press conference in Accra.

   

The press conference was to highlight the accurate GDP of 7.3 percent announced by the GSS instead of the 6.2 percent announced by government.

       

He noted that the 7.3 percent growth of the GDP in 2008 was reported to be one of the highest in 30 years in the nation's economic management and that it was achieved in the face of record high oil prices, a meltdown in the world financial markets and a global recession.

    

He said when the then NPP government assumed power in 2001, the economic growth rate for 2000 was a meagre 3.7 percent and that under sound economic management, the government was able to increase it to 7.3 percent in 2008 in spite of all challenges.

   

The Minority Leader intimated that when in 1999/2000, oil prices rose to 36 dollars per barrel, the GDP growth rate under the NDC and the Economic Management Team  which was chaired by the then Vice President John Atta Mills was 3.7 percent.

   

"In 2008, with oil prices rising to as high as 147 per barrel, we were able to achieve a growth of 7.3 percent", he added.

   

He said it was unfortunate that although the economy grew by 7.3 percent in 2008, the new NDC administration had targeted a growth rate of 5.9 percent for 2009, a decline of 1.5 percent from the 2008 figure.

   

 He noted when the then Vice President Mills headed the Economic Management Team in 2000, inflation rose to 40.1 percent whiles the cedi also depreciated by over 50 percent. 

      

"Subsequently, the cedi depreciated by only 3.7 percent in 2001, 2.2 percent in 2004, 0.9 percent in 2005, 1.1 percent in 2006 and 4.8 percent in 2007 and unfortunately by the end of 2008, inflation  rose to 18.1 percent due to the 2007/2008 shocks (less than half its level when Professor Mills was the manager)", he explained.

  

According to Mr. Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, under the NPP administration, Ghana's debt burden was also significantly reduced as a result of good economic policies adding that the country's external debt was reduced to 27 percent of GDP in 2008 as compared to 156 percent of GDP in 2000.

   

He said by 2008, Ghana used only 4.8 percent of its exports to service debts as compared to 28 percent in 2000 adding that in 2008 "our debt service was 12.1 percent of government revenue as compared to 50.1 percent in 2000".

 

GNA

Opposition in Ghana spits more venom on President Mills

President Mills

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Everything is gotten by abandoning everything. - By:KRISHNAMURTI  More Quotes | Submit a Quote

…”SHUT UP AND DO WHAT YOU ARE MANDATED TO DO”

The Minority in Parliament has rubbished claims that the former New Patriotic Party (NPP)government, and former President Kufuor, mismanaged and emptied the nation's kitty, an impression they claimed President Mills gave in an interview with BBC during his visit to United Kingdom (UK).

The minority leader and Member of Parliament for Suame, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, also denied that the budget deficit in 2008 was 15.percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

To him, President John Evans Atta Mills was economical with the truth and created a bleak picture for the economy, stressing the real deficit was 11.5 percent , “and not what the President deliberately told the world”, he contended

In an interview with the journal after a news conference in Accra on Tuesday, he said the NPP government in 2001 contended an economy growth of 3.7 percent, but applied sound economic management to stabilize and increased GDP to 7.3 percent in 2008, in spite of the challenges at the time.

He explained that 11.5 percent of GDP deficit has already been explained, “the purchase of generators, the purchase of crude oil for the Aboadze thermal Plant, the crisis with food and world oil hikes, as well as massive infrastructure projects the government implemented at the time”, he humbly submitted.

According to the minority leader, what Ghanaians expects from the NDC administration and President Mills is that they continue from where the NPP government left off, than to be involved in needless blame game.

He maintained that it was prudent to compare the economy's performance in the face of the external shocks of 2007/2008 under the NPP to the 1999/2000 under the NDC government.

“Oil price rose to only $36 per barrel in 2001, whereas in 2008 it shot up to $147 per barrel, our import bill in 2000 was $516 million, by 2008 it had risen to $2.1billion , because of the high price”, he contended.

He further added that some high profile persons in the NDC accused the NPP government of mismanaging the economy because some gold reserves that had disappeared, “Some later turned round to apologise, and when we thought that such unfortunate statements should be put behind us for us to help government find solutions to the problems of fiscal management, the president himself has descended into the arena of conflict, accusing people left right, center”

He advised that the time has come for the economic advisory council, together with the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana sit up and show Ghanaians that they would be able to sustain economic growth rate to 2010, 2011, than to “play the devils advocate by lying to the public”.

He further contended that, the trend if not curtailed have the potential of driving away investors and local business men from the country, stressing the repercussions shall be more than what we are experiencing now. “Shut up and do what you are mandated to do”, he told the NDC government.