Many financial experts have raised concern about the rising debt profile of the country, with many warning the government to be mindful of consequences of such appetite which they said could lead to another debt trap for the country.
According to Bank of Ghana’s Summary of Economic and Financial Data, Ghana’s public debt stock went up by ¢9 billion in July 2022 to ¢402.4 billion in October 2022.
This is equivalent to 68percent of Gross Domestic Product, and is in sharp contrast to the projected 104.6percent of debt to GDP ratio in 2022 by the World Bank.
In dollar terms, the country’s debt dropped marginally to $53.2 billion in July 2022, from $54.4 billion in June 2022.
This scary picture is what has informed the government to pursue debt restructuring, as the only viable option, as it engages the International Monetary Fund [IMF] for a bailout.
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As a newspaper, we are saddened by the posture of the government when it was warned about the reckless borrowing it had embarked upon since 2017, for consumption and not for capital projects that will pay for itself.
This trend of borrowing the Akufo-Addo administration, embarked upon without a clear cut plan on what to do with the loans have only imposed a lot of hardship on the citizens the more.
No wonder the country can hardly meet its routine obligations after servicing its monthly debts.
Unfortunately, most of the loans we have contracted since 2017, were not deployed to tangible projects. There is nothing to show for it, except that the debts are on our books.
Already, financial experts, as well as rating agencies, have described the debt situation in the country as one that portends a gloomy prospect for the economy going into the future.
President Akufo-Addo for once, should heed the calls to reduce the size of his government and ultimately the cost of governance, and as it is said cut its coats according to its clothes
