8.4m Ghanaians Swim In Poverty . . . Couldn't Afford GHc3 A Day In 2016 - ISSER

Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, legon, says 8.4 million Ghanaians could hardly afford GH5 daily in 2016 due to weak economic policies, resulting in the lowest record of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The breakdown is as follows; Whereas 6.4 million could not afford GH3 daily, two million could hard make GH2 to live on, and this ISSER said, did not tell the real story that Ghana has attained the much touted middle-income status level.

Dr. Charles Ackah, Senior Research Fellow and head of Economics Division, ISSER, said: “There was an abysmal GDP growth of 3.7 percent in 2016 from a record high of 14 percent in 2011. The severity of the GDP in 2016 resulted in severe joblessness, inequality and high poverty in Ghana.”

Giving his remarks at the launch of the ‘State of the Ghanaian Economy Report (SGER), 2016,’ in Accra yesterday, the ISSER Senior Research Fellow said the narrative could be better if government adopts a selective industrial-base policy, with more focus on agor-industry.

Ghana should have industries to add value to its raw materials for export, in as much as it continues to depend on agriculture as the backbone of its economy, he said. “Exporting our raw materials alone cannot bail our country from providing a better standard of living to the people. In any case, how much of our raw materials do we even export?” he indicated.

Presenting the 2016 SGER, Professor Felix Ankomah Asante, ISSER Director, further explained that Ghana’s economy performed below its 4.1 percent growth target, due to declined in tax revenues, which was in turn driven largely by direct taxes.

The decline in tax revenues, he continued defeated the main policy objective for 2016, which was ‘strengthening the government’s financial position and drive down the overall budget deficit from 6.3 percent of GDP in 2015 to 5.3 percent in 2016.

Again, the decline in tax revenues affected government’s revenue as a percentage of GDP decreased by two percent points from 21.4 percent in 2015 to 19.4 percent in 2016.

Ghana’s 2016 fiscal development suffered mores pending than what was budgeted for, and Professor Felix Ankomah Asante cited: “Total government payments, including outstanding obligations for 2016, amounted to GH51, 884 million.

“As a share of GDP, total government payments for 2016 were 31 percent, compared to the 2015 share of 29.4 percent.

“Total interest payments, which comprise payments on domestic and external debts, amounted to GH10, 770 million and that is 2.7 percent higher than budgeted.

“Total capital expenditure in 2016 amounted to GH7,678.1 million, which is 20.1 percent higher than the target of GH6.393 million.”
In spite of the severity in the Ghana economy that saw over eight million Ghanaians hardly making ends meet, professor Felix Ankomah Asante said 2016 saw some positives in a substantial growth in the electricity generation sub-sector with 11.7 percent, which led to the end of the electricity load shedding programme.

Again, seven out the 10 sub-sectors exceeded their growth targets in 2016, with the Information and Communications recording the highest growth rate with 21.7 percent.

Due to more favorable weather and gains from past rehabilitation programmes, the agricultural sector, after two successive years of growth deceleration, expanded by 3.6 percent in 2016, “and the sector, with cocoa making the greatest recovery, contributed 18.9 percent in 2016 SGER is the 26th edition since 1992.