Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, has predicted that Ghana’s public debt to reach 83 percent of GDP by December 2022.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance neglected to account for several critical components when calculating Ghana’s public debt to GDP ratio, resulting in a conservative image of the country’s debt crisis.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, he said that the Finance Ministry determined Ghana’s debt to GDP ratio to be 78 percent when it should have been 81 percent.
“As of November, the math points to the fact that it was 81% of GDP, yes I’ve heard the Ministry actually 78% of GDP.
“But it is important for us to note that this excludes the Energy Sector Levies Bond (ESLA) bond. This excludes the Sinohydro money and the GETFund securitization, which we call the Daakye. It excludes them. If you’re to add all of them, you’re talking of 81%,” he said.
Dr. Ato Forson said that the Finance Ministry’s cautious assessment provides a big smokescreen for the country’s catastrophic economic predicament.
“For instance, we have borrowed ¢9.3 billion on the back of Energy Sector Bonds, we have borrowed about ¢2.3 billion on the back of GETFund receivables. All of these, you’re using the same tax revenue to pay.
“So the tax revenue or revenue of ₵100 billion you’re reporting includes the Energy Sector Levies Act, the proceeds coming from there, but when it comes to the interest payment you’re excluding that and you are underreporting,” he said.
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