Vice President of policy think tank IMANI, Kofi Bentil, has expressed concerns over the rising debt level of the country.
According to him, managers of the economy must redirect their path as the country is back to the status of a highly indebted poor country despite the debt cancellation under former President Kufuor.
“Prez Kufuor got our debts cancelled under HIPC. Then God Blessed Ghana with Oil.10 years after debts were cancelled and Oil money came on stream, plus rebasing our economy which gave us more capacity, Ghana is back to HIPC levels of Debt.
“Can we point to anything specific we have done with $6 Billion dollars of Oil revenues so far? We seriously need to stop and redirect how we are managing Oil revenues,” Mr. Bentil took to Facebook to express his concerns.
Last year, a senior member of the IEA, Dr. John Kwakye warned Ghana is moving into an unsustainable territory in debt accumulation.
According to him, managers of the economy should begin to pull the brakes debt accumulation as the development portends danger for the country.
“We are moving into unsustainable territory. We should be mindful at the rate at which we are accumulating debts,” Dr Kwakye told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Thursday while commenting on the 2020 budget presented by the Finance Minister in Parliament.
Ghana’s government debt has increased as it spends more than planned. The country’s total debt stock hit GH¢205 billion ending July last year.
This was contained in the September Bank of Ghana’s summary of financial and economic data.
Bailouts to lenders during a cleanup of the banking sector and liabilities for excess power and gas that Ghana doesn’t consume have pushed up government debt.
