Why push the attainment of single-digit inflation to future governments? – John Kwakye queries

The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IMF), Dr John Kwakye, has slammed the government for attempting to shift Ghana’s economic recovery to future governments.

According to him, targeting single-digit inflation by 2028 is not ambitious enough.

His comments come after the minister of state in charge of finance said the country’s current growth shows a positive trajectory. He is therefore optimistic that single-digit inflation will be achieved by 2028.

In a tweet, Dr Kwakye said “This is certainly not ambitious enough. It’s like putting the economy on autopilot.

“Where is policy in all this? Why don’t the Government restore single-digit inflation during its tenure but push it on to future Government.”

He added “A 5-year period to reach single-digit inflation is a sign of policy failure. Taking concrete steps to reduce deficit financing and ensure low food prices and stable fuel prices should allow single-digit inflation to be achieved by the end of 2024.”

Dr. Amin said the economy is growing faster than even the projections by the International Monetary Fund.

He added that inflation has decreased from 54% to 40% in the past few months, an indication that the growth targets are achievable.

"The IMF actually projected that we would grow at 1.5% this year, and if half into the year we are already growing at 3.2%, with some of the recovery policies yet to mature, it's indicative of the fact that by the end of the year, we should be doing far more than what the IMF projected. And that is a great sign of recovery," Dr. Amin Adam said on Citi TV.

“Inflation which is a very important indicator for attracting investments and for improving domestic investment has also been decelerating from 54% in December 2022 to date. It is about 40% and it's going to continue because 40% is still high and so we will expect that this disinflationary path we have been following will continue until we reach single-digit inflation by 2028 as per the IMF programme,” he added.

In addition to the growth indicators and inflation, the minister added that the exchange rate has also seen some stability this year.

He is therefore optimistic that Ghana’s recovery will be faster than expected.

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