‘Ghana Not Far From Full Middle Income Status’

Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Plannng An African economic analyst and Head of Research at Standard Bank, Stephen Bailey-Smith says Ghana is not far from becoming a fully fledged middle income country rather than a statistical one. The re-basing of Ghana’s economy by the Statistical Service last month suddenly shot the country into a middle income status. According to Bailey-Smith, Ghana’s middle income status is still statistical and not exactly real. He however feels that Ghana can develop and grow and eventually feel the real middle income status based on a number of critical economic issues. He told Citi Business government must maintain macro-economic stability and run its monetary policy successfully to ensure inflation does not get out of control and lead to currency devaluation and a spiral of instability “as we’ve seen in the past.” Issues of land ownership, improving access to credit, improving labour skills, attracting back the diaspora that has the skills all require attention, he told Citi Business. “Building infrastructure is another key issue that will enable the country to grow, and for people to set up businesses and become much more dynamic.”