The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has defended the state of the economy under the Nana Akufo-Addo government.

Addressing a press conference in Accra, the Director of Communications for the party, Yaw Buaben-Asamoa said “our economy is sound, based on strong performances pre and during the pandemic.”

He noted that this soundness kept Ghana’s economy afloat and “not drop into negative growth” despite the coronavirus pandemic.

“That inherent soundness is what supported us to stay in focus and not drop into negative growth in the year. COVID was very high, but we managed to sustain ourselves at 0.4 percent [economic growth].”

The party’s comments come after Fitch and Moody’s downgraded Ghana’s economy in their reviews.

Fitch and Moody’s tagged Ghana as unstable and regressing.

But the government maintains that the economy is bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic.

The government expects the GDP to grow at a rate of 5.21 percent.

The party also explained the government’s plan to deploy home-grown solutions to the problem and called on Ghanaians to support the implementation of the E- Levy.

“Our plan is to consolidate the process of growth from within, observing all the strictures of the IMF… i.e. trying to raise revenues internally. We are trying to do that with the E-Levy.”

“On the international scheme, the NPP government is spearheading advocacy towards the review of the international financial sector in order to be more supportive of Africa.”