This change in Ghana’s fortunes, which has been acknowledged by the international bodies, was on full display when the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, addressed participants at a Government Townhall and Results Fair in the Ashanti regional capital of Kumasi on Tuesday, [February 11, 2020.]

 

Using a combination of graphs, tables and text, Vice President Bawumia provided evidence to buttress his claim that the Akufo-Addo administration had largely delivered on its manifesto promises, especially on the economy.

 

“The data shows that Ghana’s macroeconomic fundamentals are strong. Indeed, the strength of Ghana’s fundamentals was confirmed recently by Moody’s Ratings which changed Ghana’s sovereign ratings from B3 with a stable outlook to B3 with a positive outlook. This is unprecedented for an election year,” Vice President Bawumia pointed out.

 

“Standards and Poors also upgraded Ghana’s sovereign credit rating from B- to B with a stable outlook last year. This was the first upgrade by S&P for Ghana in 10 years! This is a strong affirmation of the positive assessment by the international financial markets of Ghana’s economic fundamentals.

 

“Just last week, Ghana successfully issued the longest-dated Eurobond ever issued by a Sub-Saharan African country with investors placing $15 billion of orders for Ghana’s 41 year Eurobond. The 7 year Bond issued has attracted the lowest coupon rates ever for Ghana at 6.375 per cent compared with the 9.25 per cent Ghana had to pay for a similar Eurobond issue in 2016. This is a massive show of confidence in the Ghanaian economy by investors.”

 

Throwing more light on the economic performance of the three-year-old government, Vice President Bawumia continued,

 

“For the first time in a decade, Ghana recorded primary balance surpluses (that is our tax revenues exceeded all government spending - excluding debt service payments) for three years in a row (2017-2019).

 

“Inflation has dropped steadily from the high of 15.4 per cent at the end of 2016 to 7.9 per cent at the end of December 2019, about the lowest we have seen since 1992.

 

“For the first time in over two decades, the trade balance (the difference between what we export and what we import) recorded a surplus in 2017, a larger surplus in 2018, and an even larger surplus in 2019.

 

“Even the cedi exchange rate under the NPP (2017-2019) is twice as stable as it was under NDC (2013-2016) - Average depreciation of 18 per cent compared to 8.7 per cent). For the NPP to match the almost four-fold Usain Bolt-like dash of the nominal level of the cedi exchange rate under the NDC, the cedi exchange rate will have to reach some GH15/US$!”