Economist Dr. Nii Moi Thompson has linked a recent damning report about the Ghanaian economy to government’s wrangle with ExxonMobil for Kosmos’ shares. The Forbes Magazine ranked Ghana's economy as the 9th worst economy, but Dr Thompson said the report is discredited. He said the report is one of several tactics adopted by the powers that be to pile pressure on the government to rescind its position on the deal. The Government is blocking the sale of Kosmos’ shares in the Jubilee Field to ExxonMobil because it says due process is not being followed. According to Dr. Thompson the Forbes Magazine article ranking Ghana the 9th worst performing economy is mischievous. He said the statistics used for the article were either non-existent or misleading. The article mentioned that Ghana has a trade deficit of $3 billion, but Dr Thompson said that is incorrect. According to him, the trade deficit for the first quarter as disclosed by the Bank of Ghana puts the trade deficit at $487 million. He said “absolute numbers like that don’t make sense in economic analysis. They were out for mischief and all the figures they used are absolutely misleading.” Play the attached audio for excerpts of the interview with Dr Thompson Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana