Ghana’s economy not on calamitous decline – Ato Forson replies Akufo-Addo

The Deputy Finance Minister, Mr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, has rejected claims that Ghana’s economy is on a “calamitous decline”.

New Patriotic Party (NNP) Flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, made the claim in a speech he delivered at the 2nd Aliu Mahama Memorial Lecture. But Mr Forson is of a different opinion.

The Member of Parliament for the Ajumako Enyan Essiam Consistency in the Central Region said Saturday on Joy FM’s News File that: “I don’t think the country is in a calamitous decline, in the sense that before you make that statement, you have to compare the country to its neighbours, its peers and strike an average and look at what is happening in the global environment because we are not an island.

“A country that in 2012 grew at 8.8 percent, that if you benchmark it to the sub-Saharan average that gives you 4.9 percent, I believe that is respectable.

“A country that in 2013, we grew at 7.2 percent and if you are to benchmark it to our sub-saharan average you have 5.4 percent, I believe it’s something that we have to talk about.”