The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr John Kwakye, has said targeting single-digit inflation by 2028 is not ambitious enough.
He wants the government to restore the single-digit inflation as early as possible.
He was reacting to a comment made by the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, to the effect that the government targets single-digit inflation by 2028.
“The IMF actually projected that we would grow at 1.5% this year, and if half into the year we are already growing at 3.2%, with some of the recovery policies yet to mature, it’s indicative of the fact that by the end of the year, we should be doing far more than what the IMF projected. And that is a great sign of recovery,” Dr. Amin Adam is reported to have said on Citi TV.
“Inflation which is a very important indicator for attracting investments and for improving domestic investment has also been decelerating from 54% in December 2022 to date. It is about 40% and it’s going to continue because 40% is still high and so we will expect that this disinflationary path we have been following will continue until we reach single-digit inflation by 2028 as per the IMF programme,” he added.
Inflation has since dropped to 38.1 % in September, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The downward trend is according to the decrease in the prices of food and non-food items, Prof Annim said at a press conference in Accra.
Food inflation fell from 51.9% in August to 49.4% in September, while non-food inflation fell from 30.9% to 29.3%, Prof Annim said.
In a tweet, Dr Kwakye said “This is certainly not ambitious enough. It’s like putting the economy on autopilot.
“Where is policy in all this? Why don’t the Government restore single-digit inflation during its tenure but push it on to future Government.”
He added “A 5-year period to reach single-digit inflation is a sign of policy failure. Taking concrete steps to reduce deficit financing and ensure low food prices and stable fuel prices should allow single-digit inflation to be achieved by the end of 2024″.
