By Joe Udo
ACCRA (CONVERSEER) – Ghana’s Parliament witnessed heated debates on Tuesday as Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Majority and Minority clashed over the country’s recent economic improvements, including declining inflation and the strengthening of the Ghanaian cedi.
While Minority MPs from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) credited the positive economic indicators to legacy policies from former President John Dramani Mahama, the Majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) dismissed the claims, arguing that the gains were temporary and driven by artificial interventions.
Chairman of the Committee on Economy and Development and NDC MP, Eric Afful, praised recent fiscal progress, citing data from the Bank of Ghana.
“The headline inflation has declined consecutively within the year by 2.6 percentage points to 21.2% in April 2025 and further to 18.3% in May 2025,” Mr Afful said during plenary. “This has resulted in a reduction in the prices of goods and services in the country.”
He further noted that Ghana’s public debt stock improved significantly, standing at GH₵769.4 billion or 55% of GDP by the end of March 2025, compared to GH₵726.7 billion or 61.8% of GDP in December 2024. Afful attributed this development to fiscal discipline and a strong monetary stance that has also helped the cedi rebound against major currencies.
But the NPP’s Ranking Member on the Economy and Development Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, sharply disagreed, challenging the sustainability of the economic indicators being celebrated.
“Yes, there’s been an appreciation of the Ghanaian cedi, and no one is against that. But we must ask, what is driving it?” he questioned. “The IMF has pointed out that the government injected about $1.4 billion from our reserves into the market to support the currency.”
Oppong Nkrumah further alleged that the current administration has not generated the reserves being spent, claiming the funds were inherited from the previous government.
“It is a fact that this administration inherited over $8 billion in reserves, and in six months, has not added significantly to it,” he said. “We must be honest about what is happening. This is not a sustainable path.”
He also criticised the government’s recently announced overseas employment programmes, saying no funds have been released to implement them, rendering the initiatives ineffective.
Energy and Green Transition Minister, John Jinapor, added a clarifying note to the debate. While acknowledging the economic gains, he stressed the need for realistic public expectations.
“Inflation has indeed declined. But lower inflation does not mean prices are falling — it means the rate at which they increase is slowing,” Jinapor explained. “This is a textbook case of disinflation, not deflation.”
He argued that the effects of macroeconomic improvements take time to be felt by the average citizen, and called for a focus on job creation as the next phase of the country’s recovery.
“Having attained these positive indices, the next step is to create sustainable jobs for Ghanaians,” he said.
Contributing to the discussion, Dr Kabiru Mohammed, MP for Walewale, warned that the cedi’s appreciation was based more on Bank of Ghana’s market interventions than on real economic fundamentals.
“When the central bank injects dollars into the market, it creates an artificial sense of stability,” he said. “The IMF has even cautioned the Bank of Ghana to discontinue such interventions as it undermines liberal market principles.”
Dr Mohammed also challenged the reported decline in the debt-to-GDP ratio, attributing it not to new economic growth but to the painful debt restructuring process undertaken by the Akufo-Addo government under the IMF programme.
“The truth is that the government has not paid most of the debts. The debt-to-GDP ratio only declined because of the restructuring and the suspension of payments,” he said.
The parliamentary debate underscored the deep political divisions over Ghana’s economic direction, with both sides agreeing on the need for job creation and sustainable growth, but sharply divided on how the current gains were achieved and whether they can be maintained.
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