Chartered economist Emmanuel Amoah Darkwa, has admonished government to shift from just quoting economic figures and focus on the impact such indicators will have on ordinary Ghanaians.
He explained that economic figures on its own are nothing unless it has an impact on the development of people, adding that government will be making mistake if it keeps posting high economic figures that do not mean anything in reality.
He indicated that by the second quarter of 2021, reports from the ministry of finance showed that Ghana’s economy grew by 3.9% but what is the impact on people, he quizzed.
“Let’s disaggregate that data. Where is the growth coming from? Who are the beneficiaries of these growths? How will these growths impact revenue mobilization? These are the analysis we should be having instead of just quoting the figures and leaving them at that”.
He asserted that although some microeconomic indicators may be doing well, there is a mismatch between the impact and the figures.
He stressed that it was not enough for government to publish what it term good economic indicators without interrogating the impact on the lives of Ghanaians.
“If your indicators are pointing upwards but this is not showing in the lives of your people, then you are achieving nothing really. We need to find out how those successes we are quick to publish, how it is affecting the ordinary man on the street, how it affects food prices, not just figures”, he opined.
He advised policymakers, not to just rest on economic figures but to examine the figures and their impact on people who are the ultimate beneficiaries.
The President, Nana Addo at the maiden edition of the Presidential Business Support, on Tuesday, 14th September 2021 established that Ghana’s economy rebounding faster from the ravages of COVID-19 than envisioned, following a slow rate of growth in 2020.
The President said “After recording negative growth in the second and third quarters of 2020, the economy recovered strongly in the fourth quarter of the year, and well into the first and second quarters of 2021, registering an impressive growth rate of 3.1% in the first quarter of this year, and 8.9% in the second quarter”.
