‘Ghana is not broke’ — Nana Akufo-Addo replies critics in final address

President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana has defended the economic record of his two-term administration, dismissing criticisms of mismanagement.

Akufo-Addo spoke in Accra, Ghana’s capital city, on Friday while delivering his final address as the outgoing president during the parliament’s dissolution.

The president will hand over to his successor, John Mahama, on January 7.

Ghana faced a severe economic crisis characterised by high inflation, significant public debt, impacts from illegal mining, and a depreciating currency under Akufo-Addo’s administration, which began in January 2017.

In July 2022, Ghana’s central bank posted a record loss of 60.8 billion cedi mostly due to debt restructuring.

A 2023 World Bank report showed that a combination of domestic imbalances and external shocks led to macroeconomic challenges in Ghana with the situation deteriorating markedly over the past few years.

In the same year, thousands of Ghanaians took to the streets of Accra to protest a regressing economy.

The World Bank report added a rigid budget weakened by high energy sector costs and chronically low public revenues as factors that led the country into a “full-blown crisis”.

Last year, a high court barred groups from holding economic hardship protests in Accra after youth-led demonstrations swept across other African countries.

A 2024 World Bank report projected poverty rates to rise until 2026, peaking at 31.5 percent in 2025 before slightly declining to 30.6 percent in the gold coast country.

‘THE CRISIS IS OVER’

Rebuffing critics, Akufo-Addo said the Ghanaian economy has rebounded under his administration.

“At the moment, I am able to say with confidence that the crisis is over and that the economy has recovered strongly and faster than projected,” he said.

Ghana’s debt restructuring exercise has been a crucial response to its economic crisis, particularly following its default on external debt in December 2022.

The restructuring process involved both domestic and external debt and was aimed at restoring fiscal stability and sustainability.

Akufo-Addo said the decision was not made lightly, adding that a failure to make the move would have had “far-reaching consequences” for every Ghanaian.

“Today, we are witnessing the positive outcomes of this painful yet necessary exercise,” the president said.

“The economy is rebounding strongly, our fiscal position is more stable, and our debt sustainability has significantly improved.

“These developments have provided a solid foundation for sustained growth and development, ensuring that the sacrifices made by bondholders and other stakeholders will not be in vain but rather the basis of Ghana’s economic revival.

“Mr. Speaker, the country is not broke, as some propagandists want us to believe.

“We are handing over the country with gross international reserves of almost $8 billion. This is more than $6.2 billion of gross international reserves my administration inherited in 2017.”

The president also listed a return to the pre-COVID trajectory of economic growth, significant private sector credit increase, improved external and trade balances, and declining inflation as some of the successes under his administration.

As Akufo-Addo prepares to leave, the incoming administration faces the dual challenge of addressing lingering economic concerns and steering Ghana toward a future of growth and stability.