Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has rejected claims that government’s numerous flagship programmes are to blame for Ghana’s worsening debt situation and the subsequent International Monetary Fund (IMF) support request.
Dr. Bawumia said factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic, banking sector clean-up, and the energy sector capacity payment pushed Ghana’s total debt to some $54.5 billion.
He explained that in the midst of the worsening economic challenges, the government’s options for generating enough revenue were limited, forcing the country to run to the IMF for support.
“The excess capacity payment of GH¢17 billion relates to a legacy of take or pay contracts that saddled our economy with annual excess capacity charges of close to $1 billion a year. These were basically contracted to supply energy to Ghana.”
The Vice President noted that the expenditure on these three “exceptional” items is over 3 times more than what has been spent on government’s flagship programmes.
The Vice President said the National Democratic Congress is partly responsible for the internal factors driving Ghana’s debt situation.
“Of the four factors, Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war were external. The other two, the banking sector clean up and the energy sector capacity payment were results of the previous government.”
He was speaking at the launch of the two new high-level information technology programmes at the Accra Business School at Baatson in Accra.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reaffirmed its commitment to support Ghana following the conclusion of its visit to the country.
Source: Citinewsroom
