The state of the economy - Vision 2020 is a sham

The erstwhile NDC government's Vision 2020 concept has been described as an illusion in last year's state of the Ghanaian Economy report presented in Accra on Thursday by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Legon.

According to the Free Press, Professor K. Asenso-Okyere, Director of ISSER, presenting the report, stated that the disturbing act was the lack of relationship between the annual budget and Vision 2020, which was supposed to direct Ghana's development efforts.

Targets set in the budget, he said, did not relate to targets of the Vision.

"It therefore becomes increasingly clear that the Vision is an illusion", Prof. Asenso-Okyere noted.

He asserted that from all indications, the economy of Ghana was in crisis, which had deepened in the last two years.

He recalled that in the last year's report, the Institute emphasised on the vulnerability of the Ghanaian economy to the external shocks such as the fall in the prices of primary commodities, the increase in crude oil prices and the reduction in external inflow of funds for the last three years which had pointed to the lack of resilience of the economy of Ghana.

He noted that while external conditions were propelling a disequilibrium internal mismanagement precipitated it and threw the fundamentals of the economy in disarray.