Dr Adu Owusu Sarkodie, an economist at the University of Ghana, wants the government to be honest about the amount of money spent on COVID-19 interventions in Ghana so far.
His comment follows the Minority in Parliament’s fears that the government is blaming the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic primarily for its inadequate economic management.
Minority MPs accused the government of misusing funds intended to handle the virus epidemic when reviewing the 2021 budget announcement on the House floor.
Dr Adu speaking on Eyewitness News on CITI TV said that government should have up-to-to-date personal income and expense statements to put all suspicion to rest.
“I feel that the government should come out with the actual calculations of the COVID-19 expenditure because this is something many people have been calling for. When you do not create this expenditure, then you create room for this doubt. So I want to see that yes, COVID-19 had its impact, but we do not know how much the government has spent on all the COVID-19 relief items it provided in 2020.”
“The items are just listed, but they haven’t been totalled. I think the government should total it and put it in the budget to clear all doubts. They should come out clearly. If they don’t do that, they will have a tough time in Parliament”, the economist said.
According to government statistics, the government has experienced a revenue deficit of GHS 13.4 billion since the outbreak of the pandemic (3.5 per cent of GDP).
Expenditure, on the other hand, had increased by GHS11.8 billion (3.1 per cent of GDP), resulting in a GHS 25.3 billion deficit (6.6 per cent of GDP).
As a result, the fiscal deficit for 2020 was updated from 4.7 per cent of GDP to 11.4 per cent of GDP to account for the pandemic’s effects.
The Minority however accuses the Akufo Addo administration of misleading numbers due to unnecessary borrowing.
Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader, for example, has said that the situation has grave consequences for the region.
He maintains that the government cannot exclusively blame the COVID-19 for the country’s weak economic management.
Ghana’s debt stock, as of January 2021, was GHS291.6 billion, breaching the dreaded 70% debt-to-GDP ratio.
“The record is that President Akufo-Addo has increased our debt stock from GHS120 billion to GHS291 billion representing some 76% of debt to GDP. He chose conveniently to blame COVID-19 for the poor performance of the economy, and yet he is seeking to recover from COVID-19.”
Source: ATLFMNEWSROOM
