John Kumah, Deputy Finance Minister, has dismissed allegations that the bad condition of the economy is the consequence of mismanagement by the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration.
John Kumah claimed that the government’s spending on COVID-19 resulted in the country’s present predicament.
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, accused the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration of being responsible for 60% of Ghana’s entire debt stock at a Policy Dialogue on Monday, July 26, 2021.
According to Dr. Forson, President Akufo-Addo’s administration is responsible for GHS171.22 billion, or 60 percent, of Ghana’s public debt of GHS291 billion as of December 2020.
“The main causes of the current hardships are the twin problems of the largest budget deficit (15.2% ) in recent history, and a choking debt overhang that threatens the stability of the Ghanaian economy,” he said, adding that “the hardships arising from the deficit and debt situation is the direct result of mismanagement of the economy and misplaced populism by this government.”
Dr. Forson, a former Deputy Finance Minister, warned that if the government does not put a stop to the current situation, the nation would see a decrease in capital investment while spending more on interest servicing.
However, John Kumah, who represented the Finance Minister at the Minority Forum, does not fully agree with Dr. Forson’s views.
He claims that if the problems encountered by the Akufo-Addo administration had occurred under the Mahama era, more debt would have been accumulated.
“If you check the reality of what happened under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s tenure, I am sure if it had happened under former President John Mahama, we would have jumped to $100 billion. There was no COVID-19 to warrant a lockdown for extra expenditures of the government.”
“So these are very difficult times that President Akufo-Addo has been in, but he has managed it so well that he has won the world commendation.”
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SOURCE: ATLFM ONLINE
