Claim: Member of the Communications team of the National Democratic Congress, Lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe, has quoted 0.7, 4.5, and 4.2 as the 2022 sector growth rates for Agriculture, Manufacturing and Construction, respectively.
Verdict: Checks in the 2023 Budget statement released by the Finance Ministry indicate the quoted figures are inaccurate.
Full Text
A member of the Communications team of the National Democratic Congress, Lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe, has quoted 0.4 as the 2022 sector growth rates for Agriculture, Manufacturing and Construction.
Comparing the rates to that achieved in 2016, when the NDC was exiting office, he said that the current rates reflected the ‘dire’ nature of the economy.
When he was challenged about the source of the figures, he cited the 2023 budget.
“Anytime we raise these issues, our friends in the NPP try to water down the narrative. The real economic issues are so critical and dire,” he intimated.
“Agric, as of 2022, grew at 0.7 per cent. In 2016 it was 2.7 per cent. Manufacturing, in 2016, was 7.9 per cent. In 2022, it was 4.5 per cent. In 2016, construction, a critical sector, was 8.4 per cent. In 2022, it was 4.2 per cent,” Edudzi Tamakloe claimed on The Big Issue on TV3.
The show was live-streamed on Facebook, and the claim can be found between minutes 1:14:00 to 1:15:20.
Verification
Since Edudzi Tamakloe cited the 2023 budget statement, we limited our investigation to just that document.
When we checked the 2023 budget statement (page 23), the Finance Ministry only provided first-half average growth figures for various sectors.
According to the budget, the Agriculture sector recorded 4.9 per cent growth in the first half of 2022. The Manufacturing and Construction sub-sectors also recorded a 4.8 per cent and -1.1 per cent growth for the first half 2022.
Response from Edudzi Tamakloe
When we contacted him for a response to our findings, he said he would re-check with his sources again and get back.
We will update this report if a more credible source to affect the verdict is provided.
Conclusion
The figures quoted by Lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe as the 2022 sector growth rate for Agriculture, Manufacturing and Construction are inaccurate.