Founder of The New Force, Nana Kwame Bediako, widely recognized as Cheddar, engaged in an intellectual debate with Citi TV journalist, Bernard Avle during an appearance on the Point of View show.

During the show, Ghana's classification as a middle-income country became a controversial topic, and the duo presented opposing views.

Bernard Avle held the position that Ghana is indeed a middle-income country, but Mr Bediako argued otherwise, stating that Ghana is a low-income country.

Mr Bediako argued that since the government run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for economic assistance through a credit facility worth $3 billion, it is a low-income country.

"They went to beg to save the economy, but you are sitting in front of me, and I know you know a lot about economics, and you are telling me this country is a middle-income country.

"How then do we go so broke that we lost all the cash in our central bank and we had to go to IMF to save us? Ghana is a low-income country," he stressed.

A much more composed Bernard Avle insisted that "Ghana is a middle-income country."

Fact-check

On April 14, 2021, the Ministry of Finance indicated that Ghana continues to be categorised as a “Lower-Middle Income Economy” based on the widely classification of the World Bank and the UN.

"The IMF Fiscal Monitor does not aspire at classifying countries by income level. Instead, it analyses the latest public finance developments, updates medium-term fiscal projections, and assesses policies to put public finances on a sustainable footing. The groupings of economies presented in the Fiscal Monitor’s Methodological and Statistical Appendix serve an analytical purpose only. In this appendix, Ghana is conveniently categorized as a “Low-Income Developing Country (LIDC)”, like other Lower-Middle Income Economies such as Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria and others," the Ministry explained in a statement.

The Finance Ministry made this statement in reaction to reports that Ghana had been downgraded as a “low income country” by the IMF in accordance with its latest Fiscal Monitor.

On its website, the World Bank views Ghana as a Lower-middle income country.

Determination

The classification of a country as a lower-middle-income nation is typically determined by its Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, which is the total income of a country's residents, including income from abroad, divided by its population. The World Bank classifies countries into different income groups based on their GNI per capita. As of the World Bank's classification (2022), the income groups are:

Low-income countries

Lower-middle-income countries

Upper-middle-income countries

High-income countries

For the lower-middle-income category, the World Bank sets a specific GNI per capita range. As of the World Bank's fiscal year 2022, the threshold for lower-middle-income countries is a GNI per capita between $1,056 and $4,095.

It's important to note that these thresholds are subject to change, and the World Bank updates them annually based on factors like inflation and currency exchange rates. Additionally, being classified as a lower-middle-income nation does not only depend on income levels but also takes into account other economic indicators and factors such as development and standard of living.