Economy to rebound strongly as GDP growth nears 5% – Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo says Ghana is expected to have a GDP growth rate of about 5 percent following a year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking during his State of the Nation address, President Akufo-Addo said this growth rate would beat observer projections.

This is in line with the 4.9 percent growth projection made by the Finance Ministry in 2020.

“We expect GDP growth to rebound strongly this year to nearly 5 percent; above the IMF’s 2021 January projection of 3.2 percent for sub-Saharan Africa for 2021,” the President said.

The global economy is projected to grow by 5.5 percent in 2021 and 4.2 percent in 2022.

With the commencement of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, President Akufo-Addo expects the economy to benefit further.

“Government expects economic activity, which has already picked up, to do so even further following the ongoing vaccination exercise and the easing of restrictions put in place to curb the effects of the disease.”

“The medium outlook supported by the implementation of the Ghana CARES programme is bright,” President Akufo-Addo added.

Ghana CARES, the Ghana COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprise Support initiative, is a GHS100 billion post-COVID programme to stabilise, revitalise and transform Ghana’s economy over a three-year period.

It is sequenced in two phases; a Stabilisation phase that runs from July 2020 to December 2020 and a medium-term revitalisation phase from 2021-2023.

“The establishment of the Nationalevelopment Bank under the Ghana Cares programme is expected to provide financial support to businesses in Ghana,” President Akufo-Addo noted as one of the benefits of Ghana cares.

He further stressed that if we are to see the rebirth of our economy, “our people must be healthy and not succumb to COVID-19.”

“The vaccination campaign is currently ongoing. The target is to vaccinate 20 million and the government is working hard towards that.”

“We are confident that together we will emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with a stronger and more resilient economy,” President Akufo-Addo said.