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Akuapem North Parliamentarian, Sammi Awuku, says a new data analysis based on the Convergence Criteria of ECOWAS shows that, Ghana’s economy performed better under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government than the tenure of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.
The report according to him, shows that between 2017-2024, the NPP met more key microeconomic targets than the NDC from 2009 to 2016.
“The primary convergence criteria set by ECOWAS require that Ghana’s budget deficit, including grants, remain ≤ 3% of GDP and the inflation rate stay less than or equal to 5% to ensure fiscal discipline and price stability,” Mr Awuku argued on the floor of Parliament during the debate on the 2025 budget statement, Wednesday, March 19.
The former Director-General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) noted that: “Under these benchmarks, neither the National Democratic Congress (NDC) nor the New Patriotic Party (NPP) met the targets for budget deficit or inflation.”
“According to the reports, in 2016, the NDC recorded a 9.0% budget deficit on a cash basis and a 15.4% inflation rate, while in 2024, the NPP reported a 5.2% deficit on a cash basis 7.9% on a commitment basis and an inflation rate of 23.8%.
“Both administrations achieved zero central bank financing of the budget deficit, thus adhering to the ≤10% target for that indicator. Additionally, while the NDC’s gross external reserves covered only 2.8 months of imports about $6.1 billion, the NPP surpassed the requirement by securing 4.0 months of import cover approximately $8.98 billion.”
He said the reports further stated that, the NPP excelled in critical indicators like Gross External Reserves leaving $8.98 billion in four months of import cover compared to the NDC’s $6.1 billion in 2.8 months of import cover. Likewise, the NPP reduced the public debt-to-GDP ratio to 61.8% in (2013 constant prices) in 2024 compared to the 73.1% in (2006 constant prices) in 2016 left by the NDC.
The report further added that the NPP failed to achieve targets on exchange rate stability, with a -19.2% depreciation, compared to the NDC’s better performance of -9.5%, which met ECOWAS convergence criteria.
“Based on this analysis, NPP scored 3 out of 6 (50%) compared to NDC’s 2 out of 6 (33.3%). Therefore, upon the adverse impacts of the global economic turmoil in 2020 (Covid-19 pandemic) and 2022 (Russian-Ukrainian war), NPP still left a stronger economy in 2024 than what was left by NDC in 2016,” the MP concluded.
