Dr. Sam Ankrah writes: The Recovery on Paper vs. The Reality on the Ground
Economic issues are addressed through genuine and comprehensive solutions. They cannot be handled unilaterally.
Indeed, you have steadied the cedi, cut inflation, and decreased interest rates. But what has been the cost of these measures?
Did you achieve this by addressing genuine economic fundamentals, or did you approach it from a singular perspective?
Are we manufacturing locally to prevent excessive imports? Are we cultivating onions, tomatoes, and producing furniture and other goods that naturally reduce the demand for foreign currency and help stabilise the exchange rate?
Are more people working and earning enough to increase savings, thereby influencing lending interest rates? Or is there another explanation?
Have the prices of goods decreased in the market due to lower production costs, or is it that consumers lack purchasing power, hence contributing to a decline in inflation?
Have fiscal measures been employed to alter behavioural and consumption patterns among the populace?
Have we ceased importing suits in favour of wearing batakari?
These are the realities. Anyone can address issues from a singular perspective or fabricate statistics to evoke a sense of satisfaction. Genuine economic growth impacts human existence beyond mere statistics.
I understand it will take time to manifest. The question is, when will it occur?
What is the duration needed for the decline in inflation from 52% to 3.4% for consumers to actually feel the benefits? Was it resolved only by fortifying the cedi to settle our external debts?
NB: This is not for politics. I am grounding my critique of Ghana’s current economic narrative. I am distinguishing between cosmetic macroeconomic stabilisation and structural, human-centred economic transformation.
The Central Argument: Ghana has been stabilised on paper, but not transformed in practice. The Mahama administration has inherited a crisis, managed its optics, and called it recovery — while the structural conditions that created the crisis remain largely untouched.
Dr. Sam Ankrah
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