Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, while delivering the 2024 budget statement, on Wednesday, on the floor of Parliament revealed that Ghana is set to hit one trillion Ghana cedis gross domestic product (GDP).
This, he said, is a marked improvement from the GH¢219.5 billion the Akufo-Addo government inherited in 2016.
However, reacting to this figure, Economic and Political Risk Analyst, Dr. Theophilus Acheampong, said touting the country’s projected one trillion Ghana cedi GDP as an achievement is mere political grandstanding.
He stated that one trillion Ghana cedi is a meaningless metric in the face of rising inflation and a depreciating cedi.
“One trillion cedis if you convert it is just about 83billion, the current economy is worth about 79 or so billion. So if you do the adjustment going forward with all of the good rates you’re going to get there anyway.
“So whether or not you’re going to get one trillion economy or not, it’s practically meaningless in the grand scheme of things,” he said.
According to him, the Minister should have focused on better growth indicators such as gross national income and per capita to really demonstrate the trajectory of the country.
“So things like your gross national income, or per capita or other growth rate that better reflect the macro economic situation of the country and better reflect our lived economic prosperity, should be looked at.
“Because at the end of the day it’s about the man on the street, the waakye seller, the koko seller and those are the people this budget has got to work for.
“So when we throw figures like that about I get worried because at the end of the day again it’s more of political grandstanding and it doesn’t really add anything as much to our economic debate,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister has vowed to ensure that the country achieves this yardstick within the final year of President Akufo-Addo’s tenure in office.
According to him, the government is jealously guarding the foundation for sustained economic expansion.
