Presenting his first budget statement to Parliament in Accra, Mr Ofori-Atta said macroeconomic performance growth remained subdued over the period.He said the 2016 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), based on the provisional outturn for the first three quarters of the year, was estimated at 3.6 percent, with the non-oil real GDP estimated at 4.6 percent, same as target.

The Minister explained that at the sectoral level, the Industry Sector, specifically, mining and quarrying, underperformed due to a contraction in upstream petroleum output, which constituted the bulk of the Mining and Quarrying Subsector.

On inflation, Mr Ofori-Atta said it remained elevated for most part of 2016, but began to slow-down towards the end of the year, saying, “Inflation began the year at 19.0 percent, peaked at 19.2 percent in March and ended the year at 15.4 percent.”

“Under Monetary and Credit Developments, the key monetary aggregates and credit to the private sector recorded slower growth in 2016, in line with the tight monetary policy stance,” he said.

The broad money supply (M2+), at the end of December 2016, recorded an annual growth of 22.0 percent compared with 26.1 percent in the same period of 2015.This was mainly driven by a moderate growth of 19.5 percent in Net Domestic Assets (NDA) and a Net Foreign Assets (NFA) growth of 29.8 percent in December 2016, the Minister noted.

He said the growth in total outstanding credit to the public and private institutions moderated further in December 2016, a reflection of a higher incidence of non-performing loans and the tight monetary policy stance. The annual growth in total credit slowed to 17.6 percent at the end of December 2016 from 24.9 percent recorded in 2015.

Under Stock Market Developments, the Minister noted that annual changes in the Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index (GSE-CI) remained negative, generally reflecting investor preference for higher yielding money market instruments.He said the GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) lost 15.3 percent (305.82 points) year-on-year in December 2016 to close at 1,689.09 points from 1,994.91 points in December 2015.

The total market capitalization stood at GHC 52, 690.99 million at the end of December 2016, showing a year-on-year decline of 7.8 percent.He said interest rates in 2016 also exhibited mixed performance as the Bank of Ghana Policy Rate was kept at 26 percent until October 2016 as risks to inflation and growth were assessed as balanced.

The policy rate, however, was reduced to 25.5 percent, as inflation pressures eased while domestic growth conditions continued to deteriorate. Yields on short-term Government securities decreased, while those of medium to long-term GOG bonds increased in line with Government's policy to properly align the yield curve and extend the maturity profile.