President Adama Barrow has described 2019 as a year of “success” for his government saying that the economy of the country has registered a significant improvement.

The president was speaking at the National Assembly during his State of the Nation address on Thursday where he spoke on a range of issues regarding the development of the country.

“I am proud to report that the country’s economic growth has general strengthened while inflation has now moderated. For the past two years the economy grows by 4.8 per cent and improved to 6.5 per cent in 2018,” he said.

The president said the estimates indicated that “the current account deficit narrowed to 1.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first half of 2019 compared to a deficit of 1.7 per cent of GDP of the correspondent quota of 2018 in the balance of payments.”

He added: “the improvement in the current account balance is attributed to the increase of foreign inflows related to the support of diaspora remittances and tourism.”

The president said the exchange rate of the country’s dalasi remains broadly stable, which he said is supported by “market confidence in an increased economic growth”.

He said the total expenditure and net lending has declined from 11.5 per cent of the GDP last year to 10 per cent of the GDP in early part of 2019, adding “government physical operation for the first six months of 2019 indicated that total revenue and grants stood at 9.8 percent of GDP compare 8.6.of GDP in the same period last year.”

Despite the government announcement of economic growth, many Gambians complained that they are not feeling the growth of the economy and that the living conditions are “increasingly getting harder and unbearable in the country”.

Reporting by Adama Barrow