Policy think-tank, IMANI Ghana, has exposed some inaccuracies in the claims made by the running mate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in his lecture on Ghana’s economy delivered Thursday.
According to IMANI’s analysis of the claims, while Dr Bawumia fairly used some of the data for valid criticisms of Ghana’s economy, some of the data were unfairly interpreted for partisan advantage.
Dr Bawumia had claimed Ghana made the most progress in human development terms between 2001 and 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa but the growth differential has however declined from 1.33% (2001 to 2010) to 1.13% (2010 to 2014) under the NDC.
But IMANI has contested the claim as being partisan-driven, noting, “This is one of the claims we really struggled with.
“It is clearly inaccurate to argue that under the NPP Ghana experienced the highest improvement in sub-Saharan Africa on this measure, nor is it entirely clear that the figures show a dramatic decline since 2010,” the analysis pointed out using figures from Botswana and Zambia.
On claims that Ghana’s debt under President John Mahama accumulated by 66% over just 3.5 years and that by 2016, the NDC would have borrowed $42 billion, the think-tank described it as “somewhat arbitrary”.
IMANI also described as contentious, Dr Bawumia’s assertion that the NPP brought down the treasury bill rate from 42% in early 2001 to 24% by the time it left office in 2009, which he said, is far better than the NDC’s performance.
” In January 2009, when the NDC assumed office, the treasury bill rate reached a monthly high of about 28%. This is roughly comparable to the rate at the end of 2001.
“In between 2001 and 2015, the rate has fluctuated quite erratically. Dr Bawumia would have to compute complex mean rate variables for the two periods he is comparing rather than try to use two arbitrary points in time to make his point,” IMANI argued.
Touching on the claim that lending rate is now about 40%, which is worse than the situation under the NDC, IMANI argued “This is another claim that is rather hard to ground without complex mean rate analysis over aggregate periods”.
Using a Centre for Economic Policy Analysis figures, IMANI contended the “average lending rates between the beginning of 2006 and the end of 2014 shows that on average the rate dynamics have been tepid and hard to compare secularly.”
Although IMANI agreed with Dr Bawumia that over the last year, the banking sector has been experiencing considerable distress, it however argued that ” a trend analysis will need more than what Dr. Bawumia offers”
Click here to read the full IMANI analysis titled Bawumia’s Speech: Separating Partisan Politics from Public Policy
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter @steviekgh_TV3
