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The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has slammed the Atta Mills-led government over the economic achievements it touted at the recently re-introduced �Setting the Records Straight� forum. The NPP questioned why the government is jubilating over the attainment of a single-digit inflation when it is failing to correlate with the reality on the ground. Addressing a press conference dubbed �Vigilante-Against-Propaganda� in Accra on Thursday, a Deputy Communications Director of the NPP, John Boadu, expressed disappointment that the NDC is failing to achieve huge economic achievements despite the low inflation rate it inherited from the previous NPP administration. Below is the full eight-page press statement:- On 29th of February 2012, Mr Fifi Kwetey, the Deputy Minister for Finance & Economic Planning issued a statement as a response to widespread complaints by Ghanaians that times are tough or �enko yie� mie ku kum, emi ehii, aa bge wo, Be zoa Da Keo. The statement sought to preach to Ghanaians about how much our economic circumstances have improved under the NDC government. He was the same person who as editor of the Crystal Clear Lens published that all gold reserves of the country had been stolen and sold by the NPP administration. This misinformation was latched on by his propaganda outfit and many otherwise respectable members of the NDC to lambast the New Patriotic Party. The suggestion by Mr Fifi Kwetey and other government officials that they inherited an economic mess or empty coffers is most annoying. Three weeks after coming into office, the Mills-led NDC administration spent billions of cedis (out of the empty coffers they inherited from the NPP) just for drinking tea during NDC transitional meetings. Shortly, the NDC Minister for Youth & Sports was spending billions of cedis buying huge quantities of pampers and khebabs for unknown purposes. On top of that, the Minister travelled round the world with his girlfriend, all at the tax payers� expense. The response of President Mills was that it was not the first time a minister had travelled outside with his girlfriend. But the worst was to follow, as government officials connived with their cronies and paid out gargantuan dubious judgement debts from the coffers they inherited from the NPP administration. When the Attorney General, Mr Martin Amidu, attempted to recover some of the stolen money, he was immediately sacked for a so-called �misconduct�. Is it not curious that, today, Mr. Fifi Kwetey and those of his like, in spite of the overwhelming evidence, can still suggest to anybody that they inherited empty coffers? INFLATION: Now, let�s make some brief comments about what was touted as the economic achievements of the Mills government. On inflation, it should never be too hard for even the lay person to appreciate that if the NDC had inherited an inflation rate of 40.5% as the NPP did in January 2001, they could not have achieved single digit rate of inflation. They were lucky to inherit an inflation rate of 18.1%. Yet Mr Fifi Kwetey thinks this is the NDC government�s biggest achievement. In fact, by the year 2004, the NPP government had reduced inflation from 40.5% it inherited from the previous NDC government to 16.4%. Ironically, the result of single digit inflation is the gargantuan increases in prices of goods and services. Over the 3 years of the current NDC government, the price of any item you can think of has risen by between 50% to over 300%. EXCHANGE RATE: On exchange rate, the Deputy Minister just mixed up the figures without attempting to understand what the figures mean for the livelihood of the average Ghanaian. For instance, when the cedi appreciates against international currencies, it hurts our exports, affects economic growth and slows down job creation. At the same time, a depreciation of the cedi leads to higher prices of imported goods which increases the cost of living. So, we should be having a discussion about the most balanced exchange rate that produces the best outcomes for our economy. The misinformation that the cedi is appreciating when everybody knows that it is depreciating is nothing but falsehood from a former Propaganda Secretary. How can one describe a currency that has depreciated by over 58% ie from GH C1.12 in January 2009 to GH C1.75 as at now (a period of 3 years), compared with a cumulative depreciation of 30% by 2004 and 57% for the entire 8 year period of the NPP administration ie from GH0.7048 in January 2001 to GH C1.12 in December 2008 as an achievement? If anybody is to take credit, who should it be in the light of these comparative data? Indeed, our currency is suffering so much that just in the first 2 weeks of February 2012 over $450m from the country�s foreign exchange reserves were used just to support the cedi. The monetary policy committee report released on February 15, 2012 tells it all. Page 6 paragraph 32 states that, �in January 2012 however, the cedi depreciated at a much faster pace of 5.9% compared to 1.9% in January 2011. GROWTH RATE: The NDC/ Mr .Fiifi Kwetey don�t cease to amaze me for having the boldness to talk about economic growth as an achievement. This is what the NDC themselves said about growth in June 2009. Page 17, paragraph 47 says that �annual GDP growth was 1.6 percentage point (5.7 against 4.1) higher over the period than during the previous six years (1996-2001). Simply put the NPP inherited a GDP growth of 3.7% and under $4b GDP in 2000 and bequeathed to the NDC 8.4% GDP growth and over $34b GDP in 2008. The NDC returned to power, after inheriting a GDP growth of 8.4% in 2008, only managed as usual, to achieve 4.0% in 2009, 7.7% in 2010 and 13.7% in 2011 when oil kicked in. Thus in 2011, non oil GDP was 6.5%, clearly this is not a record that any Patriotic Ghanaian should be proud of and boast about. ARREARS: Ghanaians are pleading with Mr. Fiifi Kwetey to show us his source where arrears for 2008 was 34 trillion cedis because according to the report presented to the IMF by his own Ministry, page 27 table 2B shows the ff: Ghana: Summary of Central Government budgetary operations, 2008 -13, arrears outstanding in 2008 was GH C1.353B, 2009 was GH C 1.592B, 2010 was GH C 2.158B. So where is this 34 trillion cedis coming from? Can we safely conclude that this is an aspect of goat turned to cow philosophy? BUDGET DEFICIT: One needs to be careful when the Goebbels of our country are speaking because deficit as a percentage of GDP of old base economy is totally different from deficit for a rebased economy. First of all, the deficit for 2008 was nowhere near 15% of GDP. It is only the Mills/Mahama administration that determines annual budget deficit by excluding divestiture receipts for that year. It was 11.5% including divestiture receipts. Budget deficit now is at an all time high in monetary terms but because of the rebasing, the percentage seems smaller. As a country we must monitor this development in order not to plunge our country into what the NDC did in the 90�s. The Governor of the central bank lamented on Pg 3 of the Monetary Policy Committee report paragraph 12 that fiscal deficit for January 2012 alone was GH�756.4m. PUBLIC DEBT: Ladies and gentlemen, within a period of just three years under the NDC administration, public debt has risen from GH�9 billion (US$8 billion) in January 2009 to an unbelievable GH�24 billion at the close of February 2012. The natural question people are asking is, WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ALL THAT MONEY; WHAT IS THERE TO SHOW FOR IT? US $750 million Eurobonds What the NDC itself said about the utilisation of the Eurobonds �Non concessional borrowing in 2007 was mostly used to raise energy capacity, and that of 2008 is being assessed. Out of the US$750 millions borrowed in 2007 in the form of Eurobonds, US$595 millions had been disbursed by January 2009. The proceeds were allocated primarily to support public investments in the energy sector according to the following distribution: US$286 million for investments by the Volta River Authority (VRA); US$134 million for investments by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG); US$54 million for the investment in the Bui Dam; US$31 million for the Government's equity investment in the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP); and US$90 million for public investments in road infrastructure. The information provided by the Government of Ghana confirms therefore that the proceeds from the Eurobonds were used for productive investments, primarily in electricity generation and distribution.� After conceding that the US$750 million was used for �productive purposes�, is it not laughable that three years later, the NDC, under the pressure of the Woyome Scandal, should claim that the US$750 million was �wantonly dissipated�? It is also necessary to draw attention to the following admission in the above paragraph: �Out of the US$750 millions borrowed in 2007 in the form of Eurobonds, US$595 millions had been disbursed by January 2009.� So, how was the remaining US$155 million of the Eurobond money the NDC inherited in January 2009 used? That is a question the Mills government must answer. REAL SECTORS: Ladies and gentlemen, economic management is about delivering improvement to the lives of ordinary people. In the end, improvements must happen in the real sectors: Agriculture, Services and Industry. These are where the jobs are created for people to participate in wealth creation and earn some wage to improve their lives.