A Deputy Finance and Economic Planning Minister insists the Kufuor administration grossly mismanaged the economy despite a Statistical Service report which pegged Ghana’s economy at GH¢44 billion-equivalent to a middle income country. According to Fiifi Kwetey, a country’s economy can still be mismanaged under a middle income status and the New Patriotic Party is guilty of that. “The fact that your economy is said to have moved from a low income country to a middle income country does not mean that within that categorization there is no mismanagement. “…If at the time you inherited an economy, your inflation is running away, we talking about June last year and the 21 per cent; your cedi is collapsing on a month-to-month basis. Whether you are middle income, high income or low income these are serious situations that show that the economy is not being properly managed. “It is not simply an issue of saying you are middle income therefore you have managed well or you are low income therefore you have mismanaged. “There are low income countries (whose) economies are being well managed on a year-to-year basis,” he told Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoh on Monday. Fiifi Kwetey was commenting on the new Statistical Service report which puts Ghana in a middle income range vis a vis assertions that the Kufuor administration mismanaged the economy. Per the new report, Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product for 2008 shot up to 8.4 percent instead of the 7.2 percent earlier announced. The figure for 2009 is said to be 6.6 percent instead of the 5.9 percent earlier announced. The report thus paints a picture of a growing economy, especially in 2008, which is contrary to government’s position of a run-down economy. But the Deputy Finance Minister is not convinced. He said there are many middle income countries which are being mismanaged year-on-year basis. “Let’s not simplify it by simply saying that because you used to be a low income country and now you are middle country it means that the management of that economy all this time has been brilliant. No. “You can still have a very, very poor management of the economy in spite of the fact that you have understated that economy,” he explained. He said there are still challenges of meeting the millennium development goals and other crucial economic indicators which require more hard work and prudent policies. He said the rebasing of the country’s economy has allayed fears that the country is highly indebted and has given the country’s economy a different perspective all together. Play the attached audio for excerpts of the interview Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana