Majority Leader and the caretaker Minister for Finance Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has disclosed that the country recorded a positive growth rate of 0.9% in 2020.
According to him, this is contrary to negative projections made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other bodies.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu made this known when he appeared before Parliament to present the government’s budget statement for 2021.
According to him, this was achieved through the prudent management of the economy by the Akufo-Addo administration.
“I stand here on behalf of the President to present to the House, the state of the economy and how we have managed to mitigate and survive the pandemic with a projected positive growth rate of 0.9% in 2020, contrary to fears of a negative growth rate as experienced in many countries,” he said.
Why did Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu read the budget?
Ken Ofori-Atta, who served as Finance Minister in Akufo-Addo’s first term from 2017 to 2021, was nominated by President Akufo-Addo in January 2021 to serve in the same portfolio in his second term, but he is yet to be vetted by Parliament’s Appointments Committee due to health reasons.
Ahead of his scheduled date for vetting, the Finance Ministry announced in a statement on February 14, 2021, that Ken Ofori-Atta was being flown to the UK to receive medical attention after suffering complications from COVID-19.
According to the ministry, he recovered from the disease but suffered some complications later.
His constitutional duty of delivering the 2021 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Parliament has already been tasked to Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu. Economy to rebound strongly as GDP growth nears 5%
President Nana Akufo-Addo during the state of the nation address said Ghana is expected to have a GDP growth rate of about 5 percent following a year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, this is in line with the 4.9 percent growth projection made by the Finance Ministry in 2020.
“We expect GDP growth to rebound strongly this year to nearly 5 percent; above the IMF’s 2021 January projection of 3.2 percent for sub-Saharan Africa for 2021,” the President said.
The global economy is projected to grow by 5.5 percent in 2021 and 4.2 percent in 2022.
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