Private Legal Practitioner, Tsatsu Tsikata has described as unnecessary government’s resolve to borrow to address current economic challenges.
Parliament recently gave the go-ahead to the government to raise 750 million dollars from the international market, which the government intends to use to complete some road infrastructure projects.
This amongst other channels such as the IMF are avenues being explored by the government to restore fiscal stability.
But speaking at a memorial lecture held in honour of late President Atta Mills, the former GNPC boss argued that revenue from petroleum resources can be depended upon without government borrowing at high-interest rates.
“Under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, investments of the Ghana Petroleum Funds are also required to be made in a manner that insulates them from being spent in the annual budgets.”
“In the midst of concerns about possible debt defaults and debates in Parliament about commercial loans, is it too much to ask that in the spirit of President Mills and in his honour, urgent, good faith, cross-party consultations are held to enable all our resource pools to be drawn on for the benefit of the people of Ghana?”
The $750 million loan agreement is part of a $1 billion dollar facility, the government is seeking to shore up its reserves as well as to pay for several infrastructure projects across the country.
The Minority previously opposed the loan agreement, but threw its weight behind it during the debate to avert what they call a collapse of the country’s economy if the loan is not approved.