President Nana Akufo-Addo says his government is aware of the many economic challenges facing Ghanaians, and is working to address them.

He said the government has already began taking some measures that will soon bring great relief to citizens.

Delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Wednesday, the president said, “I know that there is a general sense of anxiety in our nation at the moment. The Ghanaian people are anxious about the economy, cost of living, income levels, jobs for young people and issues that we all thought that we had achieved national consensus on.”

He noted that most of the challenges being experienced were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia that have significantly disturbed supply chains.

Prior to these, he said, the government was on the path of significant progress and development.

According to him, the many actions taken by the government when it assumed office in 2017, began yielding results and put Ghana on the path of prosperity between 2017 and 2020.

“Then COVID rose. This is not something that anyone could have planned for and the consequences are there for us all to see around the world. The economic devastation of COVID has since the beginning of the year being further aggravated by the Russia invasion of Ukraine which has worsened the economic outlook of the entire world and we in Ghana have not escaped this development,” he noted.

President Akufo-Addo again indicated that “the measures that have been announced by the Minister for Finance are meant to demonstrate that we are aware that we are in difficult times, and we are addressing the situation. The belt-tightening measures being set for members of the Executive have been elaborated within this context.”

He further gave assurances that the government is not in oblivion of its obligations to the citizenry, and it will continue in its efforts to grow the economy and bring prosperity to citizens.

“The road to recovery will be hard and long, Mr. Speaker, but we have started on a good footing by accepting that we are in a difficult place, and are taking the difficult decisions that will get us out,” he said.