Diana Acconcia, the head of the European Union Delegation to Ghana, has said Ghana’s economic performance compared to other countries is far better despite the outbreak of the coronavirus disease.
Ambassador Acconcia was speaking in an interview with Kojo Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show about a range of issues, including Ghana’s blacklisting by the European Union.
Economic performance
“Before the crisis, Ghana was one of the fastest-growing nations in the world, so things were going quite well. COVID-19 has affected the whole world and not only Ghana,’’ she said.
“But I think Ghana is doing better than other countries. The most recent figures from the Ghana Statistical Service were better than expected and I think even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was pleasantly surprised.
“This does not mean that the situation is not serious [but] the government is very determined to transform the country through industrialisation, which I think is very good.’’
The IMF has predicted that Ghana’s economy will grow by an additional 2 percentage points above its earlier forecast of 0.9% and the government’s target of 1.5%.
It had cut its growth forecast for Ghana from 6.1% at the beginning of the year to 1.5% in April, lowering it further to 0.9% in June.
The spread of COVID-19 across the world has taken a huge toll on the economies of most countries.
The head of the EU Delegation to Ghana, who is also an economist, said Ghana has great potential that can be tapped to fast-track national economic growth.
EU blacklisting
Acconcia said it is expected that Ghana will be taken off the European Union (EU) list of high-risk money-laundering and terrorist-financing countries by the end of this year.
Ghana was blacklisted by the EU in May, ostensibly for failing to comply with money laundering and terrorism financing regulations.
There were fears that the development might have been the cause of ING Bank’s closure of accounts held by the Ghana embassy in Belgium.
However, Acconcia said the ending of the relationship was unrelated and solely a business decision by the bank.
Fred Dzakpata
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