President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has borrowed more than any other president in Ghana’s history, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has claimed.
Speaking at the 15th edition of the NDC’s weekly press briefing, the party’s National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi said “despite promising to reduce government borrowing, President Akufo-Addo has borrowed more than any government in Ghana’s history, with very little to show. Today, our current debt position is unsustainable and the worst ever in our 4th republican history.”
Mr. Gyamfi said despite the incessant borrowing by the government, it cannot point to any significant projects it has undertaken for the four years that it has been in power.
He said, unlike former president John Dramani Mahama “who undertook significant projects with the about GHS70 billion he added to the public debt while in office, President Akufo-Addo cannot boast of any significant or self-financing projects he has undertaken with the over GHS138 billion he has added to the country’s public debt in the last three and half years.”
He further accused President Akufo-Addo of mismanaging state funds.
“The reason why President Akufo-Addo has very little to show for the unprecedented resource envelope that has accrued to his government is that he has wasted the chunk of the monies on consumption, corruption, and wasteful expenditures.”
“He has supervised the worst mismanagement of Ghana’s economy since its independence. His misplaced priorities are what have plunged Ghana into the catastrophic debt situation and economic quagmire we presently find ourselves in,” he added.
HIPC is behind us, there’s no turning back – Ofori-Atta
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, however, says Ghana is making economic progress and “there is no turning back” to the days of HIPC.
Delivering the 2021 first-quarter budget statement in Parliament on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, the Minister said the decision of the President John Kufuor administration to sign Ghana unto the HIPC initiative was due to the poor economic situation inherited from the previous NDC government.
This was in response to claims by some members of the opposition that Ghana had been re-enlisted unto the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank’s Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
The IMF has also refuted the claims.
Meanwhile, a member of the Finance Committee of Parliament, John Jinapor says although Ghana may not have been listed as a HIPC country by the IMF, all indicators show that the country is already on that path.
Mr. Jinapor insists that available data points to the fact that the country is in some serious debts.
