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Inaccurate! Ghana’s GDP growth rate in 2008 not 7.2%

Claim: The Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party, Richard Ahiagbah, says ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor handed over to the National Democratic Congress a GDP growth rate of 7.2%.

Verdict: This statement is inaccurate. Data available to DUBAWA reveal that Ghana’s GDP growth rate in 2008 was 9.1%. However, this figure dipped to 4.8% at the end of 2009 under the late President John Evans Atta Mills. 

Full Text

The Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) had accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of running down Ghana’s economy at a time when it was blossoming faster. 

Addressing a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Accra on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, Mr Richard Ahiagbah said ex-President John Kufuor handed over a buoyant economy with a GDP growth rate of 7.2 per cent to the NDC.

“The NDC took over from the NPP at 7.2% GDP – that was when President Kufuor ended his term [and at that time] this economy was growing at 7.2%. In 2009, the economy dropped from the 7.2 per cent they (NDC) inherited to 4.1 per cent,” he told journalists in Accra.

The video clip starts from minutes 0:04 to 0:38, as posted on the Facebook wall of the State newspaper, Daily Graphic

Data on the social media platform showed that as of February 26, 2023, the video had been viewed 1,234 times, liked 43 times, and received 20 comments.

In his presentation, Mr Ahiagbah challenged the media to fact-check his provided data, insisting they were accurate and verifiable. The video clip starts from minutes 0:32 to 0:52, as posted on the Facebook wall of the Daily Graphic newspaper

Given the importance of economic issues in light of Ghana’s recent economic challenges, DUBAWA decided to investigate the claim to determine whether the data was accurate, as put out by the NPP Director of Communications. 

Verification

In probing the claim made by the NPP Communications Director, DUBAWA reviewed economic data, news reports and economic articles reported by the Bank of Ghana, Ghana Statistical Service, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

According to the September 2015 edition of the Annual Domestic Product published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the country’s GDP growth rate in 2008 was 9.1 per cent. This, the GSS had noted, represented a 4.8 per cent increase from the previous year’s figure, which was 4.3 per cent. Please see page 7 of the report published by the GSS.

Table 1.4 of the report published by the Ghana Statistical Service 

Data showed that the 9.1 per cent GDP growth rate in 2008 dropped to 4.8 per cent at the end of 2009 under the NDC. Refer to page 7 of the report published by the GSS.

Similarly, the World Bank national accounts data and the OECD National Accounts data files pegged Ghana’s GDP growth rate in 2008 at 9.1 per cent. This matches the figure reported by the GSS, which was also 9.1 per cent.

However, the Bank of Ghana and the International Monetary Fund each quoted 9% as the GDP growth rate of Ghana in the year in question.

Data from the Bank of Ghana for 2008.
Data from the International Monetary Fund.

It is, therefore, not true that Ghana’s GDP growth rate was 7.2 per cent when ex-President John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor handed over to the NDC in 2009.

Conclusion

Ghana’s GDP growth rate at the time the opposition NDC took over from John Agyekum Kufuor’s government was not 7.2 per cent, as the NPP Communications Director. reported

Rather, economic data from the Ghana Statistical Service, World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that the country’s GDP growth rate was 9.1 per cent. 

Data from the Bank of Ghana and the International Monetary Fund also each quoted 9% as the GDP growth rate of Ghana in 2008.

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