Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, the Minister of Finance, has called on Ghanaians to forgive the Akufo-Addo-led government for the economic hardships experienced in recent years. Speaking at the Greater Accra Regional Townhall meeting in Accra on Tuesday, Dr. Amin Adam emphasized that the government’s decision to restructure the country’s debt was a necessity imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stabilize the economy, not an intentional act to burden the populace.

“It is never the intention of any government to impose hardship on its people, more so the NPP Government that has demonstrated that we want to reduce the burden on the Ghanaian people,” Dr. Amin Adam stated.

He highlighted the success of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDP), which achieved a 95% participation rate, and noted that the DDP was crucial for the country’s economic recovery. “If we avoided it, the economy would not have recovered what we have recovered today,” he said.

The Minister also pointed to an improvement in Ghana’s debt-to-GDP ratio, which has decreased from 72% to 70.6%, a figure he described as “far better than what we recorded in 2015.”

The townhall meeting, organized by the Ministry of Information in collaboration with the Regional Coordinating Council, provided a platform for the government to showcase its infrastructural projects and social interventions. Attendees, including journalists and the public, were given the opportunity to ask questions and seek clarifications from government officials.

Dr. Amin Adam highlighted the government’s economic achievements prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, citing growth rates of 8.1% in 2017, 6.2% in 2018, and 6.5% in 2019. Despite the sharp decline in growth to 0.5% in 2020 due to the pandemic, he credited a swift recovery in 2021 to resilient government policies.

The Minister also urged critics to consider external factors such as COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war when assessing the economy’s performance, expressing optimism that the economy would fully rebound if the government is re-elected in the upcoming December 7 election. He noted that the government had successfully reduced inflation from 54% to 22% as of June this year and aims to bring it down to 15% by the end of the year.

Other notable speakers at the event included Greater Accra Regional Minister Mr. Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover and Minister of Information Ms. Fatimatu Abubakar.