The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) Ben Boakye has accused the governments of Ghana of not planning for emergencies in their budgets and hence spending anyhow during difficult times. Speaking at the 3Business Economic Sustainability Summit held in Accra on Tuesday, April 4, he said “We are spending far more than we generate as a country.”
“You can’t spend 52 percent more than your revenue and expect some magic, we don’t plan for emergencies, some of the institutions are so inefficient, we drain the public purse.” He urged all stakeholders to track government behaviour when it comes to revenue utilization. A professor at the University of Ghana Godfred Bopkin for his part said seventy percent of the Government’s total revenue goes into debt servicing.
This leaves very little for other spending, he added. He said 70 percent of all our domestic revenue goes to debt servicing, it leaves very little space for growth and enhances spending. “The IMF debt sustainability concluded that our debt is unsustainable and that meant that we needed to take steps to restructure our debts. what does supposed to mean? MoF eventually told us that in September 2022 our debt to GDP ratio in present value terms was 105 percent and we needed to reduce this it’s to 55 percent by 2028.
“Ghana is classified as a medium debt-carrying country per the IMF debt sustainability framework. “So if you are a medium debt-carrying country then your debt-to-GDP ratio in present value term should not be more than 55 percent and Ghana is above 100 percent.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
