The immediate past Finance Minister says Ghana’s economic recovery was quicker than anticipated, urging the new administration to sustain the gains rather than undo progress for political reasons.
Dr Mohammed Amin Adam Anta speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, highlighted the resilience of the economy despite global economic challenges, stating that Ghana had outperformed expectations in its recovery.
“I do not disagree that the economy was the major issue on the ballot because we all knew that the economy was difficult,” he acknowledged.
“And as I explained, it wasn’t only the Ghanaian economy. Most incumbents across the world who went through elections around the same time lost, so it wasn’t peculiar to Ghana. The economy really dominated the political debate.”
However, he was quick to point out that the economic challenges were largely influenced by external factors rather than purely domestic mismanagement.
“Our view is that these factors that led to our economic difficulties were not generally domestic-induced. Many other countries were facing the same problem, but we had done well within 12 months,” he noted.
Dr Amin Adam cited data from 2022 through 2024, which he said showed that the turnaround was not only real but swifter than anticipated by global financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as economic analysts within Ghana.
“If you look at the data from 2022 to 2023 and then 2024, you will see that the turnaround was quick. The recovery was faster than even anticipated by the World Bank, IMF, and many economic analysts, even in Ghana,” he stressed.
He underscored that macroeconomic stability was essential for sustained economic growth and noted that Ghana had achieved this despite undergoing debt restructuring—an exercise that usually causes economies to shrink.
“We were getting stability, macro stability, which is a condition for economic growth. And even after doing a debt restructuring, where countries that have done restructuring will record negative growth, we were recording an average of about 6.4% last year,” he revealed.
“It just shows that the economy was turning to positive levels, which, when sustained, could really reduce the suffering and economic hardship faced by the people.”
Dr Amin Adam, however, expressed concern that political shifts could undermine the hard-fought progress.
“The Ghanaian people decided that they wanted a change, and this is why I expected the new government to sustain the gains that we have made so that it translates into tangible benefits for the people,” he said.
Warning against political interference that could derail the recovery, he cautioned, “If you come in to do politics as usual, you lose the point and you are not really able to sustain those gains. And this is what I’ve seen President Mahama doing.”
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