Ghana ranked 81 out of 180 countries in the global corruption index report released on Thursday by the local chapter of Transparency International, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII).
READ MORE: Ghana falls in global corruption perception index
The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
Government had earlier laid the blame on ex-President John Mahama for Ghana's poor showing on the GII corruption index.
Speaking on the report for the first time since it was made public by the GII, President Akufo-Addo said the result was based on corruption allegations before the onset of his administration.
He was speaking during the swearing in of Martin Amidu as the Special Prosecutor on Friday.
He said: "The recent publication of Ghana’s score in the 2017 Corruption Perception Index, organised by Transparency International, showing a further drop in our standing, a result largely based on 'the plethora of corruption allegations/exposés' before the onset of this administration, indicates the enormity of the task ahead.
READ MORE: Mahama is to blame for Ghana's poor showing on corruption index - Gov't
"It is noteworthy that its local chapter, Ghana Integrity Initiative, in commenting on the report, has acknowledged that 'digitisation is changing the ways we communicate and how we do business, and as a result reduced the corruption rate in Ghana.'"