Mahama is doing what NPP refused to do for us in 2020 – Lecturer

After years of missed chances and economic mistakes, the government is now focused on fiscal discipline.

Professor Godfred Bokpin from the University of Ghana Business School believes this shift is showing results. He says the recent rise in the cedi is due to necessary fiscal corrections that should have started during COVID-19.

“There’s clear leadership from the top,” Prof. Bokpin stated on TV3’s KeyPoints on May 24. “Painful choices are leading to positive outcomes.”

Since the pandemic began in 2020, experts urged the government to cut wasteful spending. Instead, they increased spending, which worsened inflation.

“In 2022, the Bank of Ghana added excess liquidity,” he explained. This action pushed over 800,000 people into poverty due to poor monetary and fiscal coordination.

Prof. Bokpin pointed out that under the IMF program in 2024, Ghana missed key targets except for GDP growth and international reserves.

“We failed on fiscal consolidation,” he said. “We were supposed to achieve a primary surplus of 0.5% of GDP but ended up with a negative of over 3%.”

Now, with the new budget for 2025, the government seems to be correcting its course.

“They used this budget to address some imbalances,” he noted. The goal was to restore the IMF program by moving from a negative surplus of over 3% to a positive primary balance of 1.5% of GDP.”