[ 2016-07-20 ]

Government blows GHC100 billion
The President John Dramani Mahama-led National
Democratic Congress (NDC) administration has
etched its name in Ghana’s political history as
a government that heaped so much debt on the
people of Ghana to the tune of GHC96.1 billion
over a period of eight years.

When the Kufuor administration was leaving office
in 2009, the country’s total debt stock from the
Gold Coast era stood at GH¢9.5 billion and the
NDC, then in opposition, gave the NPP a good
bashing for that record.

But between 2009 and 2016, the best legacy the
NDC administration could bequeath Ghanaians is a
whopping GHC96.1 billion with yet an untamed
desire to swell it further by the end of the
year.

As at May this year, the total debt stock of the
country stood at GH¢105.1 billion, according to
data from the Bank of Ghana with average monthly
borrowing from January of GHC1.2 billion.

Most of the borrowings go into capital projects
which are mostly inflated; the reason why key
sectors of the economy like energy are suffering.

This year alone government is earmarking over
GH¢10 billion to service debt – almost the same
amount of money for paying emoluments of entire
government workers.

A recent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) report
of the Bank of Ghana revealed the unfortunate
situation which Ghanaians have been subjected to
by the government and which this generation, and
those yet unborn, are expected to pay by hook or
crook.

Even though government has shamelessly continued
to tout itself as exhibiting good economic
management skills, it has been borrowing between
GH¢600 million and GHC800 million every week.

2015 Stock

At the end of December last year, the government
announced that the debt stock was GHC97.2 billion,
representing a debt -to-GDP of 72.1 percent, far
higher than the International Monetary Fund’s
(IMF’s) debt risk threshold; but the Central
Bank’s figure gave a totally different picture.

The BoG argued that the economic expansion
activities were responsible for the drop in
debt-to-GDP ratio released recently; but analysts
have indicated that there is not too much to show
by way of economic expansion since a lot of
businesses have rolled up.

Many workers have lost their jobs, especially
from the worsening power crisis that has plagued
the country for more than four years.

Debt From January

Since January this year, the country’s debt has
been exceeding GH¢1 billion month-on-month.

In January, the debt was GH¢101.1 billion while
in February it increased to GH¢102.3 billion.

In March, it rose to GH¢103.1 billion as
compared to GH¢104.5 billion in April.

The country’s total public debt stock reached
GH¢105.1 billion at the end of May, this year,
representing 66.4 percent of GDP as against
GH¢104.5 billion at the end of April 2016,
representing 66.3 percent of GDP.

Out of the total stock, debt incurred internally
was GHC43.2 billion, representing 27.3 percent of
GDP, while the external debt stock stood at
GHC61.9 billion, representing 39.1 percent of
GDP.

Any Hope?

On November 7, this year, the country goes to the
polls to elect a new government and the NDC
government is still insisting that it deserves
another mandate despite the debt it has heaped on
the country.

A lot of Ghanaians have indicated that they are
tired of government paying lip service to finding
solutions to the economic problems bedeviling the
country.

Source - dailyguideafrica.com

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