Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has reacted to Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s address to the nation, Thursday, accusing the latter failing to plan for the future and blaming external factors for the country’s current economic predicament.
Dr Bawumia, in a presentation at a forum organized by the National Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) at Kasoa in the Central Region, attributed Ghana’s rising debt stock to the COVID-19 pandemic and the banking sector clean-up.
“Between 2019 and 2021 Ghana’s debt to GDP increased by 17.6 percentage points of GDP. It should be noted that without the 15.1 billion of the exceptional items – the financial sector and then the energy and Covid Ghana’s debt to GDP would have been about 68 percent instead of the current 80 percent“, he noted.
Justifying monies borrowed so far, he said: “The projects that we have undertaken from the loans over the years, you will see that we borrowed to build the University of Environment Science and Sustainable Development, that is part of the debt, the Pokuase Interchange is part of the debts, the Tema Mpakadan Railway is part of our debt, the Kumasi Airport Phase 2 is part of our debt, Tamale Airport is part of our debt.”
How Ready Is Ghana For Months’ War?
The former finance minister further described as ridiculous the attempt by the Akufo-Addo administration to blame the challenges facing the economy and its failures in the last four years on the Russia-Ukraine conflict that only started about a month ago (in February).
Wondering the impact of any such wars that last months on Ghana’s economy, he prayed for a quick end to the conflict so government can sit up and put its house in order.
“Reminder: Russia-Ukraine war started in only late Feb (one month ago) and being blamed for past 4-year’s failures? God forbid for a prolonged war yet how ready are we for its full impact in the weeks and months?”
Source: Peacefmonline
About The Author
