The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has revealed that Ghana’s debt stock has ballooned to GH¢122 billion in 2016 from GH¢9.5 billion in 2009.
The President made the revelation during his first State of the Nation Address to Parliament Tuesday morning.
According to Mr. Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s economy is currently in a bad way despite the previous government having more than 10 times the financial resources that any other government has had at its disposal.
“As at the beginning of 2009, Ghana’s total debt stock was GH¢9.5 billion. By the end of 2016, the debt had ballooned to GH¢122 billion… Ghana’s debt stock now stands at 74% of GDP, after all the previous denials to the contrary,” Mr. Akufo-Addo stated.
The President added “In fact, 92% of Ghana’s total debt stock was incurred in the last eight years under the previous government. The interest costs on this debt has also increased and will amount to an estimated GH¢14.1 billion in 2017.
IMF targets missed
The President in his address also stated that all targets set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Ghana during the previous NDC administration were missed.
“The IMF program negotiated was ostensibly to restore fiscal discipline, debt sustainability and increase economic growth. In fact, virtually all the targets under the IMF program, as at December 2016, have been missed.
“Fiscal indiscipline, once again, reared its head in the 2016 election year. Total projected expenditure for 2016 was GH¢43.9 billion (26% of GDP) but actual expenditure amounted to GH¢50.3 billion (30.2% of GDP).
“It appears, from what we are finding out, that some GH¢7 billion of arrears and outstanding payments circumvented public financial management system. The total revenue target for our country was GH¢37.9 billion (22.7% of GDP) but the actual revenue came in at GH¢33.2 billion (19.9% of GDP).
“It should be recalled that, at the time Ghana entered into the IMF program to restore fiscal discipline, the fiscal deficit was 10.2% of GDP. It is very clear, therefore, that the Mahama government did not achieve the objectives set out in the programme.”
