Speaking on Woezor TV on Thursday, Mahama raised concerns on the need for a controlled borrowing.
He believes the indiscriminate borrowing by the incumbent government could push Ghana back to Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC).
“Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has borrowed so much [to a tune of] ¢140 billion in four years, sometimes I think about it and just imagine what I would have done with ¢140 billion, I borrowed ¢56 billion and I mean the evidence is there for all to see. If I had ¢140billion in four years, this country would be at the next level.
John Mahama expressed fear of the country’s debt stock rising as he said “ our debt to GDP should be going somewhere closer to 80%.
“Debt distress is what we are facing now, even the World Bank and IMF have all been ringing the bells that we are getting close to becoming a HIPC again,” he indicated.
The latest Summary of Macroeconomic and Financial Data Ghana’s reveals that, the country’s total public debt stock has jumped by 1.66 per cent to hit ¢263.1 billion in July 2020.
But, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has defended government’s borrowing noting that there is a lot to show for the money taken.
In an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosissen Tuesday, Dr Bawumia explained that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, government had to seek financial assistance to cushion Ghanaians who were badly hit by the health crisis.
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