[ 2016-08-23 ]

5% growth target good if … – Prof. Bokpin
Economist, Professor Godfred Bokpin wants
government to be cautious in setting ambitious
economic growth targets for the country.

According to him, government should rather be
concerned with growth that translates into
improving the socio-economic conditions of
Ghanaians.

President John Mahama over the weekend predicted
that Ghana’s economic growth will exceed 5
percent by the end of this year and increase to
over 8 percent by end of 2017.

The President explained that a turnaround of some
economic indicators such as the energy sector
indicate that the economy is showing a sign of
recovery.

Though Prof. Bokpin recognizes what he says are
developments which may improve Ghana’s economic
growth, emphasis should rather be placed on
employment creation and bridging the income
inequality gap.

“We will also have to interrogate the growth
drivers in this discussion; growth coming from the
sectors that employ a lot of Ghanaians. Once
growth is coming from those sectors then it could
also play significantly in wealth distribution and
narrow the income inequality gap but we are not
seeing that,

“If you see construction doing well today you
cannot be excited because it is no longer labour
intensive because of the high application of
technology in construction today, we may find that
the sector is seeing positive growth but it
doesn’t mean that sector is solving employment
issues,” he stated.

Figures from the Finance Ministry also indicate
that the economy grew by 4.9 percent in the first
half of this year.

This was against a 5.4 percent growth target set
for 2016 and revised to 4.1.

But Professor Bokpin further explained to Citi
Business News Ghana cannot be satisfied with the
growth drivers that do not address social issues
in the country.

“Considering the rate of population growth and
other social indicators, we are growing far below
our potential and that is the issue of concern,”
he noted.

Source - citibsinessnews.com

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