A Deputy Minister of Finance, Mona Quartey, has assured the Ghanaian economy is still buoyant and is moving in the right direction.

The assurances follow criticisms that the government has cut investment spending and achieved a less impressive economic growth rate.

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A research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), Dr Said Boakye said on Joy FM’s news analysis programme Newsfile Saturday that the economy is “highly highly [sic] challenged.”

But deputy finance minister who was also a panellist on the show said it was “fair to say the economy is challenged” but was quick to attribute it to external difficulties such as the drop in crude oil prices and the  challenges in oil production on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah.

“On the external front, because of what has happened to the oil price and of course all the uncertainty in the global economy, even including the rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for other parts of the world.

“So external front is challenged, however, we still believe, and we know from the numbers that we are seeing that [the economy] is still buoyant on the local front,” she said.

Mrs Quartey highlighted the growth of GDP from projected 3.5 % in 2015 to 3.9%.

“So perhaps [the economy] is not growing as fast as Ghanaians would wish it to grow but it is taking the baby step and is moving in the right direction,” she said.

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She added: “For 2016 first quarter, the growth rate was 4.9%. That is an impressive growth rate for the first quarter [sic] compared to 4.1% in the same period last year.”

Mrs Quartey noted the fiscal deficit in 2015 reduced to 6.3% from 10.2%.

According to her, it is a “major achievement” considering the external challenges in the economy.