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Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has thrown down the gauntlet to critics of the government's handling of the economy, especially members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), to present their "own data" if they so wish, for comparision; and do away with the hurling of invectives.

To him, the ruling party is only interested in presenting the facts as it is in relation to the management of the economy, and not dabbling in propaganda.

Giving the keynote address at the maiden Town Hall Meeting on the current state of the economy together with key members on the Economic Management Team (EMT), Dr Bawumia opined that people only resorts to insults when they are allergic to facts.

"On behalf of members of the EMT, I present our progress, where we are and the way forward. Our presentation is based on an analysis of the facts and data. The data will speak for itself; if you disagree you should bring your own data and your record. But don’t disagree by saying that the EMT members have big heads. You will only resort to insults when you are allergic to fact," he stated.

Under the theme; ‘Our Progress, Our Status, Our Future,’ the maiden event will see the team tackle major issues of concerns that have been raised by sections of the public in recent times.

Adducing statistics to back his claim that the economy is performing better than previous governments, the Vice-President said, “Inflation has dropped from a high of 15.4% at the beginning of last year to 9% this year....Lending rates are also falling from 32% to 22$.”

Touching on the sudden appreciation of the local currency, Dr. Bawumia said: “The market corrected itself. Investor sentiments acknowledged that the fundamentals are much stronger than expected.”

He denied claims that the Bank of Ghana used about $800 million to shore up the economy to save the Cedi, adding: “That would not make sense.”



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