A member of the Communications Team of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Fredrick Kofi Ameyaw believes the Akufo-Addo administration has put the monies borrowed under its tenure to good use.
He insists Ghanaians shouldn’t worry about the ballooning debt stock.
According to him, it is being managed prudently.
The latest summary of Macroeconomic and Financial Data from the Bank of Ghana, puts the total public debt stock at GHS273 billion as of the end of September 2020.
The new debt figure pushes Ghana’s debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio to 71 percent, crossing the dreaded 70 percent threshold for the first time since December 2016 when the figure stood at 73.3 percent.
But Mr. Ameyaw speaking on the news review segment of Citi TV’s Breakfast Daily programme on Tuesday, November 24, 2020, said President Akufo-Addo has put the money borrowed judiciously.
“I want to assure Ghanaians that if there is any political party in this country that has the competency and efficiency to manage this economy very well, then it is the New Patriotic Party because we have a demonstrable record in doing so. We (NPP) took over the reins of this country, and we were all well aware of the challenges that bedevilled this country to the extent we had to go to the IMF for policy credibility. Indeed, we promised that the rate of borrowing was going to be reduced and that is exactly what we have done.”
“When we took over administration of this country, the Roads and Highways Ministry owed over GHS17 billion, the District Assembly Common Funds were in arrears to the tune of almost GHS1 billion, Cocoa roads had about GHS5 billion debt and the NHIS GHS1.2 billion and the Energy sector debt, and we (Government) needed to do something and President Akufo-Addo has taken care of all of these.”
