State of the Nation address is an excellent review - Pianim

Accra, Jan. 22, GNA - Mr Kwame Pianim, an Economist and Chairman of the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) on Thursday described President John Agyekum Kufuor's State of the Nation Address as an excellent review.
He said the President briefed Ghanaians about the economic infrastructure his administration had laid to turn the economy around. Mr Pianim expressed these views in an interview with Journalists shortly after the President had delivered the one and a half hours Address at the Chamber of Parliament.
The address dwelt mainly on the economy and achievements made so far on the Government's five priority areas - Infrastructure Development; Modernized Agriculture; Private Sector Development; Enhanced Social Services on Health and Education and Good Governance.
Mr Pianim said the Address had prepared the electorate about what to expect in the next budget statement, especially the creation of more job opportunities to sustain the economic gains.
He lauded President Kufuor for admitting publicly that the hike in petroleum prices last year affected efforts at reducing inflation to a single digit Mr Pianim said President Kufuor threw light on the kind of economy his administration inherited and efforts to streamline the situation.
Dr Baffour Agyeman-Duah, Associate Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), gave the President full marks and expressed the hope that the Minority in Parliament would attest to the wisdom and transparency in President Kufuor's Administration.
He said the President had in the last few weeks talked extensively on how he was fighting corruption and did not need to mention it again in his address.
"I think that the issue has been over-flogged and the President himself had in the last few weeks talked about efforts that were being made to bring corruption down. There was, therefore, no need to repeat them again," he said.