President Akufo-Addo responding to cheers
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the country’s economy has grown exponentially since he assumed office in 2017.
Speaking at this year’s May Day celebration in Kumasi yesterday, President Akufo-Addo stated that all the economic indicators were pointing in the right direction.
The parade was held under the theme, “Sustainable Development Goals and Decent Work: The Role of Social Partners.”
In attendance were the Vice President Alhaji Dr Bawumia, Ministers of State and members of the diplomatic corps, including the Cuban Ambassador to Ghana.
President Akufo-Addo said Ghana’s GDP growth had more than doubled from 3.6 percent in 2016 – the lowest in two decades- to 8.5 percent in 2017, adding that inflation had also reduced from 15.4 percent at the end of 2016 to 10.4 percent in 2017, with interest rate going down.
He added that the local currency was getting more stable while the fiscal deficit had reduced from 9.3 percent in 2016 to 5.6 percent of GDP in 2017.
“There are positive signs of reviving the industrial sector with growth increasing from abysmal negative 4.5 percent to positive 17.74 percent in 2017,” the President noted.
This, according to him, was due to deliberate interventions made by his administration to reduce the cost of doing business, as well as formalize the Ghanaian economy.
“e-Commercial business registration system, the paperless port system, digital addressing system, global interoperability system and the national identification card system, will all help quicken the pace of change to bring us to the technology-driven era to make our businesses competitive,” he pointed out.
He said his administration had abolished the numerous nuisance taxes in an attempt to shift the focus from taxation to production.
He disclosed that the reduction in electricity tariffs was a major government policy to reduce the cost of doing business and create confidence in the economy as a whole, and that residential consumers had not been left out in the policy initiative.
He said while residential power consumers were enjoying tariff reduction of 17.5 percent, non-residential customers were also enjoying a 13 percent reduction.
Touching on the SDGs, he noted: “If the SDGs are to be successfully implemented, every citizen must get involved in the programme. I’m glad that Organized Labour sees the SDGs and their implementation as its business, and is ready to play its role as social partner.”
He added that government believes in the capacity of the private sector and would therefore create the enabling environment for the businesses of entrepreneurs to thrive to create jobs for the teeming youth.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi