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Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Chairman of the Finance Committee has maintained that the country’s economy is on a sound footing and that every single macro-economic indicator has improved.

According to him the volatilities in the exchange rate had stabilised, the upswings and downswings that happened under the NDC was no more.

“It is unattractive to hold the greenback, people are now moving into the cedis, if you hold foreign currency you don’t gain anything”.

Dr Assibey-Yeboah made the statement when he seconded the motion for Parliament to approve the Financial Policy of the Government of Ghana for the year ending 2020.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, presented the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of government to Parliament, where he outlined programmes and policies to achieve this vision.

Dr Assibey-Yeboah also argued that the inflation rate, which stood at 15.4 percent at the end of 2016 has now been halved to 7.7 percent, whilst interest rate reduced from 17 percent to 14.4 percent.

He said Ghana’s credit story over the past three years compared to a decade ago had improved tremendously and that all the international credit rating agencies had given the country a positive outlook.

“You think they just improved our credit ratings for the sake of it, something good must be happening,” he added.

Dr Assibey-Yeboah also indicated that the GDP growth rate at the time opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) were leaving office in 2016 was 3.4percent and that Ghana is projected to grow at 7 percent this year.

He said comparing the performance of the Administration of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with that of the NDC would be an exercise in mediocrity.

“I’ll would rather want compare Ghana to its peers in terms of economic growth in Sub-Sahara Africa and countries in the emerging markets,” the Finance Committee Chairman said.

Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, Ranking Member on Finance, debunked the Finance Minister’s statement that the government has not imposed new taxes on the people as false.

He cited for example the extension of the National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy and Special Import Levy, introduction of the Communication Service Tax, increase in the petroleum taxes and the decoupling of the NHIS Levy and the GETFund Levy has increased the taxes Ghanaians pay.

Mr Forosn explained that the incidence of all these taxes and levies took more money from the people than what government gave them through the Free SHS and other programmes, and described the statement that 2020, was a year of roads as a trick.

He said Government failed to take pragmatic steps to address the poor road network in the country, saying the amount allocated in the budget was for the Road Fund and that there was no dedicated funding for the road infrastructure.