Member of Parliament (MP) for forAkuapem North Constituency, Hon Sammi Awuku has argued that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government outperformed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in meeting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Convergence Criteria, which are key economic benchmarks aimed at ensuring stability and monetary integration among member states.
Hon Awuku noted that, despite global economic challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, the NPP made stronger progress in key economic areas.
“Using this set of performance indicators, it is clear that NDC’s economic performance in the previous administration, between 2009 and 2016, was far below the performance of the last NPP Government from 2017 to 2024,” he stated on the floor of parliament on Wednesday March 19, 2025.
Comparing and contrasting the two administrations, he highlighted fiscal discipline, pointing out that the NDC left a budget deficit of 9.0% in 2016, while the NPP reduced it to 5.2% on a cash basis and 7.9% on a commitment basis by 2024.
However, he admitted that neither government managed to meet the ECOWAS target of keeping the deficit at or below 3% of GDP. “This was never achieved by either NPP or NDC,” he remarked.
On inflation, Hon Awuku noted that both governments struggled to meet the required threshold of 5%. “NDC left it at 15.4% in 2016, and NPP left it at 23.8% in 2024. This means neither NPP nor NDC was able to meet this crucial requirement,” he explained.
However, he acknowledged that both administrations successfully avoided central bank financing of the budget deficit. “Zero financing was maintained in 2016 and in 2024, meaning both the NDC and NPP achieved this target,” he added.
Regarding inflation, it is crucial to note that the NPP government took office in 2016 with an inflation rate of 15% and successfully reduced it to 7.6% by 2019, marking the lowest level in 28 years. In 2022, while the inflation rate in Ghana under the NPP was 13%, both Germany and the USA faced significantly higher inflation rates, a situation driven by global economic instability that also impacted Ghana.
Hon Awuku emphasized that the NPP made a significant achievement in building foreign reserves, stating, “NDC left office in 2016 with an import cover of 2.8 months, about $6.1 billion, while NPP raised it to 4.0 months, approximately $8.98 billion, in 2024. This was achieved by the NPP, but the NDC failed to meet this requirement.”
The lawmaker and former NPP National Organiser also pointed out differences in secondary convergence criteria, acknowledging that the NDC performed better in maintaining exchange rate stability.
“NDC left the nominal exchange rate at -9.5% in 2016, which was within the required ±10% range, while NPP left it at -19.2% in 2024, meaning NPP failed to achieve this,” he admitted.
However, he was quick to highlight the NPP’s success in managing the public debt-to-GDP ratio, arguing, “NDC left it at 73.1% in 2016, while NPP reduced it to 61.8% in 2024. This was achieved by the NPP, but the NDC failed.”
Summing up his analysis, Awuku concluded, “Based on this assessment, NPP scored 3 out of 6 (50%) compared to NDC’s 2 out of 6 (33.3%). Upon the adverse impacts of the global economic turmoil in 2020 and 2022, the NPP still left a stronger economy in 2024 than what was left by the NDC in 2016.”
