The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Johnson Asiama, has stated that Ghana’s economy was unstable when the John Dramani Mahama administration assumed office.
Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, March 25, Dr Asiama likened the situation to that of a patient who had been under prolonged treatment by another doctor.
“It’s been a lot of work, a lot of thinking, and a lot of listening. We listened more to Ghanaians and designed our policies accordingly. When we came in, we did a lot of preparatory work and knew exactly what we were walking into. It was like having a patient who had been under treatment for a long time by another doctor,” he said.
Dr Asiama pointed to high inflation and exchange rate volatility as key indicators of the economic challenges at the time.
“Remember the macroeconomic situation at the time—high inflation and exchange rate volatility. From 2022, a lot of liquidity was injected into the system. It was like a patient who had received excessive blood transfusions. Too much liquidity had been injected; no matter what you do, it won’t be effective. No matter the policies you implement, they won’t be effective,” he explained.
He noted that the central bank had to take measures to mop up excess liquidity in the system, a process he said came at a cost.
“We had to set to work to drain the excess liquidity from the system. That has come at a cost,” he added.