President John Dramani Mahama says he is confident in the nation’s economic rebound under his administration, describing the present economy as resilient to withstand external shocks amid global uncertainties.
He emphasised that the economy remained stable and well-positioned to absorb the impact of international tensions, like the Israel-United States war against Iran, saying that he was absolutely confident that the economy would withstand those external shocks.
President Mahama made the remarks when he performed a ground breaking ceremony for work to commence on the construction of a 24-hour economy model market at the Dormaa-Ahenkro Tuesday market in the Bono Region.
The President is in the region for the ‘Regional Accountability Series’ and he is expected to address a durbar of chiefs and people of Bono, inspect ongoing GETFUND educational projects.
He will also assess progress of work on the construction of some road infrastructure projects including Jinijini-Sampa Road and the Sunyani Outer Ring Road.
President Mahama noted that macroeconomic stability had improved significantly, saying that inflation had declined from 23.4 percent to 3.3 percent.
He said the Ghana cedi had also been strengthened from between GH¢16 and GH¢17 to about GH¢10.70 against the US dollar.
President Mahama emphasised that sustaining those economic gains remained critical to protecting the economy against future external shocks.
“Without a resilient economy, any external shock will have severe consequences, and it’s therefore important that we sustain the gains made over the past year”, he stated.
Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, the Paramount Chief of the Dormaa Traditional Area, commended the government for its sound economic management, improving the foreign exchange regime.
“I know you have been in office for just over a year now, but you have done well, especially with the forex situation, and Ghanaians appreciate that”, Osagyefo Badu II, also the President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs noted.
He lauded the government’s “Big Push” road infrastructure programme, testifying that several road projects in the region and the nation by extension.
Osagyefo Badu II said the government deserved praised for the construction of road projects like Sunyani Outer Ring Road, the Berekum-Sampa Road, the Berekum-Seikwa road, the Sunyani-Abesim dualisation project as well as Wamfie-Gambia road and Dormaa-Nkrankwanta road.
Nonetheless, the paramount chief urged the government to expedite action for work to resume on some abandoned projects like Dormaa-Ahenkro-Aboabo road under the cocoa roads programme which began in 2013.
He appealed for rehabilitation of the 12-kilometre Dormaa-Ahenkro-Gonokrom road that linked Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, saying that the Ivorian side of the road was in good condition, as the Ghana portion remained deplorable.
Osagyefo Badu II also called for the resumption of construction work and completion of the Agenda 111 District Hospital project at Amasu and parts of the country initiated by the previous administration.
He also called for the expansion of infrastructure development at the main campus of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) as well as the Dormaa-Ahenkro campus of the university.
