Ghana\u2019s economy may be looking healthier on paper, but that recovery hasn\u2019t reached the wallets of ordinary citizens.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the warning from economist and lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Patrick Asuming.<\/p>\n
Speaking on\u00a0PM Express Business Edition<\/em>\u00a0on JoyNews, Prof. Asuming cautioned against over-celebrating recent improvements in key macroeconomic indicators when most people are still struggling to keep up with rising costs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems to me that the financial and the monetary side of the economy has performed better, and the real side seems to be lagging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a disconnect between how people are perceiving the economy and what the macro numbers are telling us.\u201d<\/p>\n He explained that while inflation is coming down and the Producer Price Index (PPI) has dropped from around 18 to 10 per cent, that doesn\u2019t mean prices are falling.<\/p>\n \u201cPrices are still rising. They haven\u2019t declined. The rate of increase has reduced, but that\u2019s not the same as things getting cheaper,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Prof. Asuming said recent gains in the cedi, improvements in foreign reserves, and falling Treasury bill rates are signs of financial stabilisation.<\/p>\n But he warned that these gains don\u2019t necessarily translate into relief for businesses or households.<\/p>\n \u201cThe currency has strengthened, yes, but look at the other components of production\u2014tariffs are going up, wages are not going down, and domestic production costs keep rising,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n He said that the overall economic picture looks better, largely because government has acted quickly to put its finances in order.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernment has done well on the fiscal side. Our reserve position has improved, partly from policy direction and partly from luck with global prices of our exports.<\/p>\n “But when you dig deeper, it\u2019s clear that the real economy, the part that touches people\u2019s lives every day, isn\u2019t recovering at the same pace.\u201d<\/p>\n Prof. Asuming pointed to the GDP numbers for the first quarter of 2025 as a clear example.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, GDP outperformed expectations, but when you break down the numbers, you see that five out of the 20 sub-sectors of the economy actually saw a decline.<\/p>\n “The ones that grew had more weight, so they pushed the overall number up. But that masks some real weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n He stressed that focusing too much on headline numbers can give a false sense of progress.<\/p>\n \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t assume that a decline in inflation means prices are coming down or that the economy is booming just because the macro indicators look better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are still under pressure. The average Ghanaian isn\u2019t yet feeling the recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n Prof. Asuming said it\u2019s crucial to close the gap between the financial recovery and improvements in daily living conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil the real side of the economy starts catching up, people will continue to feel that we are recovering on paper\u2014but not in their pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n Ghana\u2019s economy may be looking healthier on paper, but that recovery hasn\u2019t reached the wallets of ordinary citizens. That\u2019s the warning from economist and lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Patrick Asuming. Speaking on\u00a0PM Express Business Edition\u00a0on JoyNews, Prof. Asuming cautioned against over-celebrating recent improvements in key macroeconomic indicators when most people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123457,"featured_media":11434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3525,41],"tags":[2249,3637],"class_list":["post-11433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-general-news","tag-economy","tag-gdp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/123457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11435,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433\/revisions\/11435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Disclaimer: The content provided on Fish FM Online is for informational and entertainment purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, we do not guarantee the completeness, reliability, or timeliness of the information presented. Fish FM Online and its affiliates are not responsible for any errors or omissions, nor for any decisions made based on the content available on our platform.<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"